Trucks on Kashmir Highway polluting capital’s environment
Trucks on Kashmir Highway polluting capital’s environment
By Atif Khan
ISLAMABAD: Heavy traffic on Kashmir Highway is causing ‘irreparable’ loss to Islamabad and Rawalpindi’s environment besides causing fatal lung diseases to residents, reveals a recent study by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).Coming from Karachi and bound for Northern Areas and NWFP, around 2,000 trucks and six-wheelers use the 15 kilometres long Kashmir Highway as transit passageway through Islamabad every day. As these vehicles, by and large, are diesel run, they billow thick black clouds of smoke, polluting environment.According to the study, one truck emits 0.8 grammes particulate matters in the air per kilometre on Kashmir Highway and the total amount of suspended particulate matters comes to 8,640 kilogrammes a year. Trucks used to pass through Rawalpindi but were barred from entering the city.While talking to Daily Times, Pak-EPA Director General Asif Shuja declared the situation alarming and called for measures to address it ‘before it was too late’. He suggested that a bypass be constructed on the limits of Islamabad so that trucks and six-wheelers could reach their destinations without entering the city. He called for planting more and more trees to reverse the damage done to the environment by smoke-emitting vehicles.Dr Fawad, a chest specialist, said particulate matters suspended in the air caused lung problems especially asthma and heart attack.He said particulate matters could be classified as pm 10 (10 microns) and pm 2.5 (2.5 microns). He said human beings cannot inhale particulate matters of pm 10 or below. The hair and liquid present in the human nostrils stop these particulate matters, which are later washed away by liquids of the nostrils. As for particulate matters of pm 2.5 or less, they are very small particulates, which pass easily through nose and are collected at the bottom of human lungs, blocking alveoli (bubble like structures) responsible for exchange of oxygen and blood. Dr Fawad said blockage of alveoli decreased oxygen carrying capacity of blood and in case of a heart attack the heart does not get enough oxygen causing immediate death.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C09%5C25%5Cstory_25-9-2007_pg11_10
By Atif Khan
ISLAMABAD: Heavy traffic on Kashmir Highway is causing ‘irreparable’ loss to Islamabad and Rawalpindi’s environment besides causing fatal lung diseases to residents, reveals a recent study by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).Coming from Karachi and bound for Northern Areas and NWFP, around 2,000 trucks and six-wheelers use the 15 kilometres long Kashmir Highway as transit passageway through Islamabad every day. As these vehicles, by and large, are diesel run, they billow thick black clouds of smoke, polluting environment.According to the study, one truck emits 0.8 grammes particulate matters in the air per kilometre on Kashmir Highway and the total amount of suspended particulate matters comes to 8,640 kilogrammes a year. Trucks used to pass through Rawalpindi but were barred from entering the city.While talking to Daily Times, Pak-EPA Director General Asif Shuja declared the situation alarming and called for measures to address it ‘before it was too late’. He suggested that a bypass be constructed on the limits of Islamabad so that trucks and six-wheelers could reach their destinations without entering the city. He called for planting more and more trees to reverse the damage done to the environment by smoke-emitting vehicles.Dr Fawad, a chest specialist, said particulate matters suspended in the air caused lung problems especially asthma and heart attack.He said particulate matters could be classified as pm 10 (10 microns) and pm 2.5 (2.5 microns). He said human beings cannot inhale particulate matters of pm 10 or below. The hair and liquid present in the human nostrils stop these particulate matters, which are later washed away by liquids of the nostrils. As for particulate matters of pm 2.5 or less, they are very small particulates, which pass easily through nose and are collected at the bottom of human lungs, blocking alveoli (bubble like structures) responsible for exchange of oxygen and blood. Dr Fawad said blockage of alveoli decreased oxygen carrying capacity of blood and in case of a heart attack the heart does not get enough oxygen causing immediate death.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C09%5C25%5Cstory_25-9-2007_pg11_10
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