According to Khabar Online, in recent years, the air pollution in autumn and winter has been very severe, the question arises as to why the programs to deal with air pollution have not been answered so far. public health has been ignored and this winter has been added without electricity? The Deputy Minister of Health pointed out that related institutions should be responsible in this field and emphasized that power cut is bad, but diesel burning and pollution are bad. The weather is much worse.
IRNA wrote in a news: Every year in autumn and winter, the issue of air pollution plagues Tehran and big cities, and there is no solution except temporary relief such as closing schools and offices. This is an ongoing story that does not come to a conclusion due to the lack of cooperation of various sectors, including industry and energy, and low-quality cars are still being produced and worn-out cars are also in circulation, and quality gasoline is not being supplied.
Previously, in a report titled “Tehran’s soul was numbered”, we wrote in the IRNA research group: air pollution has become an integral part of the lives of Iranian citizens in the metropolises, especially in Tehran, and according to annual statistics, about 50 thousand people die in the country. for this reason, and its damage is estimated at 12 billion dollars.
Also, in other reports titled “What does air pollution do to humans and society?” What is the solution?” And “air pollution kills 3 million people in the world every year; A big disaster for health and economy” we discussed the different aspects of this story. But one of the dimensions of air pollution is the infliction of life and financial damage on people’s health, which on the other hand leads to imposing costs and increasing the burden of visiting hospitals and health centers; That too in the cold seasons of the year when there are respiratory viruses such as corona and influenza and it automatically increases the number of patients who refer to medical centers.
This time, we had a detailed interview with Ali Reza Raisi, “Deputy Health Minister of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education” and discussed other aspects of the air pollution issue.
Air pollution causes disease in people over time
Air pollution in Tehran and big cities continues every year in cold seasons, how does this issue endanger people’s health?
Any kind of pollution, including water, food and air pollution, causes problems for people’s health; While you can choose food and water, air is something that cannot be chosen, and if a person is in an environment with polluted air, he will have problems. Many pollutions cannot be detected by the sense of smell and taste, and as a result, the person Without knowing, he gets poisoned. Diseases caused by air pollution are due to toxins and suspended particles in the air, which accumulate in the body of people and lead to disease; That is, it is possible for people to be exposed to air pollution for several years, but eventually they develop chronic diseases, the reason of which is exposure to polluted air for many years.
When I was the president of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, research projects were carried out and it was found that the amount of heavy metal deposition in the feathers of the region is very high. This issue was compared with other birds that were far from that area and it was observed that the level of contamination is very high.
We also conducted another research and examined the amount of heavy metals in the milk of mothers in Asalouye region. This issue was also compared with the milk of mothers in the plains region and it was observed that the amount of heavy metals is 10 to 20 times higher in the milk of mothers in this region. In general, mothers should be advised to breastfeed their babies, but we should have told these mothers in this region the opposite, not to breastfeed their babies, so as not to cause problems for the babies. If the fishing is close to the contaminated area, it is possible that the aquatic animals are also contaminated. These pollutions can have long-term effects on human health.
Car manufacturers are not responsible for the low quality of cars
It was said before that one of the main causes of air pollution is low-quality or worn-out cars and low-quality gasoline; Has this issue been followed up?
If each person does his duty correctly, many problems will be solved, but the correctness of the duty must be defined. A task is something that is assigned to us to achieve a predetermined goal; But the correctness of the task depends on the correct definition of the goal. It means that it is possible to set goals that are not correct. If people’s health is important, every action must have a health attachment. About 60% of air pollution is related to motor vehicles, and when domestically produced cars are of such poor quality and have high fuel consumption, they cause pollution, and also gasoline is also of poor quality and leads to air pollution.
Day by day, the number of cars in metropolitan cities is increasing. On the other hand, about 17,000 to 20,000 people die on the roads every year due to accidents. A car that is produced and bought at a very high price to bring comfort and peace has caused people to lose their health. Low-quality cars can cause people to die directly and cause air pollution and death indirectly. We have 12 million motorcycles in the country, 11 million of which are worn out. Of this amount, about 40,000 to 50,000 devices have technical inspection and cause this volume of air pollution. When it is said that 60% of air pollution is due to motor vehicles, this should be corrected.
For years, people have been subsidizing car manufacturers out of their own pockets and lives, and car manufacturers have not only not responded, but they say that they have lost money and are giving cars to people at a lower price! But people have to buy these cars by prepayment and lottery.
Air pollution harms people by 12 billion dollars annually, and 60% of this amount, which is about 8 billion dollars, can be considered for the salaries of the employees of these car manufacturers; With the rest of this money, you can import a quality car. So, if there is a real intention to correct the air pollution situation, the standardization situation in the automobile industry should be determined.
The role of power plants in air pollution
What is the role of power plants in causing air pollution?
Decision making should be based on rationality. For example, power plants are built in a place that does not pay attention to the direction of the wind and the path of the pollution leads to damage to the cities. Couldn’t the power plant be built in a place that doesn’t affect the cities? In other countries, diesel fuel is used in power plants, but the power plant is located in a place that is far from the city, or diesel fuel is used in a less harmful way so that it does not harm the environment and the air. It is to divide the tasks and say what each ministry does. It has a duty in the field of clean air, it is good; But in practice, we see that many institutions and ministries have not fulfilled their duties for various reasons. All these excuses are repetitive. The problem of air pollution has existed for many years and continues to do so.
Solving the problem of air pollution requires rationality, scientific approach and national determination
Why is this story repeated every year and air pollution is a guest of Tehran and big cities?
In the current situation, no one talks about the earthquake, and if such an event occurs, everyone deals with issues such as retrofitting and relief, and after that, it is abandoned. Even now, with the occurrence of air pollution, everyone is talking about it, and after the fall and winter are over, air pollution is not talked about until next year, and it repeats itself. To solve air pollution problems, we need rationality, scientific approach and national determination; Otherwise, the problem will not be solved.
Power outages are bad, fuel oil burning and air pollution are worse
The story of fuel oil burning in power plants was stopped for a while by the order of the president, but it seems that this story has resumed and is still a part of the reason for air pollution. Why doesn’t the Ministry of Health react to this story?
In recent months, several meetings have been held in the field of air pollution. Every year, city by city of the country is reviewed in terms of pollutants and economic burden and death rate. About a month ago, a meeting was held about Shahzand, Arak and Tehran in the field of fuel oil burning, and following the report prepared by the Ministry of Health and presented at the government meeting, the president preferred not to burn fuel oil even at the cost of the electricity cut. This order was given by the president and in another meeting, the statistics were also presented to the president. After seeing the reports and the inappropriate situation that has been created, Dr. Ghaem Panah, the vice president, emphasized that fuel oil burning in these cities should be stopped.
The Ministry of Health and the Environment Organization resisted until this action was taken and finally it was approved to implement this action. The fuel oil that is burned in these areas is maybe one-eighth of the fuel oil that is burned in the whole country, and this amount can be replaced with gas. But some resist in this field.
It is not good and bad for electricity to be cut off, but fuel oil burning and air pollution are much worse. Between bad and worse, bad should be chosen. Maybe many people prefer not to have electricity for an hour, but not to breathe polluted air. After this action of the government, many protested that the electricity was cut off. Power outages were not unusual and had happened before. These criticisms of the power outage were due to the fact that the President’s order was not implemented. They even said that the electricity would be cut off and the patient would die in the CCU and the operating room. While these people have no knowledge about ICU and CCU and hospital emergency power.
Some of these people who protest against the power outage use people and the media; Because their interests are at risk. People appear in the meetings and say that the Ministry of Health, which declares that respiratory diseases have increased, is lying and made up statistics. The nature of these conversations is not good.
If we do not deal with any simple problem scientifically, it will become a blind and complicated knot; To open this knot, if we do not think scientifically, it is not possible to open that knot. Social and economic issues cannot be solved even if we think linearly. For example, the issue of population should not be thought of in such a way as to collect preventive measures from health centers in order to increase the population. Prevention equipment was collected from health centers, but did the population increase?
The Ministry of Health is a health watcher and a warning
What is the duty of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education in the field of air pollution? Can’t health experts deal with air polluting sources or have legal tools at their disposal?
The issue of executive guarantee or judicial bail sometimes does not answer; It will not be effective if the Ministry of Health wants to take all the responsibilities. The judiciary must do its job and the Ministry of Health must warn and monitor health. The power of the Ministry of Health is not greater than that of the President; When the president gives an order to stop fuel burning and there is so much opposition, what can the Ministry of Health do about air pollution?
Don’t put people in a dilemma
What is the solution to air pollution? Why were such dualities created during the corona era?
The solution is for people to say, are they willing to cut the electricity for an hour, but to save themselves from air pollution? This decision should be made by the people. People say that we don’t want polluted air, nor should electricity be cut off; But if we are in a special situation, there is nothing wrong with cutting off the electricity for an hour to save us from the polluted air, but the government has the duty to make sure that the power cut does not continue. Most of the decisions are like this and people are stuck between two choices. Solving the problem of air pollution requires national determination and scientific event, and we will not reach the result without this.
If it is said that the cars are not good and the car manufacturing should be closed, do you know how many people will be unemployed? The same thing has been said for years. Who said young people should be unemployed? But it must be a quality car. Both should be done. During the corona era, the same people who said that decisions were made in such a way that people died due to corona, did not allow the introduction of the vaccine, and then gave the same people positions and responsibilities.
It is said that during the corona era, ventilators were bought instead of vaccines; At that time, we needed both ventilators and vaccines. Some people say that we should not focus on treatment and focus on health. But even if we look at the treatment situation, we see that the bed-to-population ratio is 1.6. Even the condition of treatment is poor and the condition of the health sector is not suitable. Some say that the money of the health sector has been spent on treatment. But they don’t give money for treatment or health; It means that both are important for the health of the society and both should be addressed. It is the same in the field of air pollution.
Summary
The issue of air pollution is an interdisciplinary issue. That is, from the Ministry of Oil to industry, they are responsible in this field. Which departments have abandoned their actions or failed to fulfill their duties in what field is worthy of consideration. Perhaps the judicial authorities have not paid much attention to this issue, and perhaps in recent years, the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education has not properly explained what air pollution does to people, and as a result, there has been no judicial response to air polluting sources. .
In this situation, people have no choice but to not be exposed to polluted air as much as possible and make nutritional reforms to pass these days; To what extent polluting sources are deposited in the lungs and how they will show themselves in the coming years is also something to think about.
233217
منبع: www.khabaronline.ir
