Wishing a very happy Dipawali to all of you!
What's happened in this Dipwali:
Sudha Nair, a chartered
accountant of Andheri, Mumbai, decided to leave the city to spend a week with
her family in London. This is not a mere holiday trip to her, but the main
reason for her trip is that, it is a way of escaping the raising pollution
level in the city during Dipawali. She is an asthma patient.
Dr. Jalil Parker, chest physician of Lilavati Hospital advices particularly asthma patients to go to a village areas to escape from the dangerous air pollution during this time! Gaseous air pollutants emitted from firecrackers are one of the main factors for childhood bronchial asthma, particularly among children of age group 6-12 years. It is observed that almost 26% people without any history of respiratory ailments develop symptoms of coughing, wheezing and breathlessness during Dipawali, especially in city areas in India!
The reason is that cracker contains 75% potassium nitrate, 15% carbon and 10% sulphur, and, when they burn, very harmful gases like sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, manganese and even cadmium are released, which irritate the delicate areas of airways of lungs and worsen the condition of people with pulmonary diseases!
According to SAFAR(System of Air Pollution Forecasting & Research), the pollution level on air will raise up-to 700 than in normal level from Nov, 2, in some areas of cities. According to WHO this level is warning of emergency conditions, said by Gufran Beig, Project Director of SAFAR. Poisonous gases and metals like oxides of nitrogen, lead, chromium and zinc would fill the air, posing a serious health hazard for all. There have been steadily increasing the influx of Chinese crackers in the market, which are even more dangerous!
Instead of enjoying the festival
with love and light, people now observing this festival to show their strength
of money, bursting more crackers but, unfortunately, they are either unaware or
neglect the dangers of peoples health issues.
Each state has their pollution monitoring system, and they monitor the pollution level in the air at the time of Dipawali, but we don’t know whether the state Assam does have the same policy or not!
Not only the air, but, sound pollution is also a matter of great concern for us in Dipawali. If 60 dB is considered as the normal (conversational) sound range for human, then the sound could be much, much greater if a cracker is burst near us. It may go more than 20,000 Hz .i.e. more than 120 dB, which is very dangerous. It can damage hearing ability of a person forever!
In addition, these crackers may
cause water pollution. When they burst, the metal oxides eventually settle on
soil and because of rain it may go to rivers and it may mix with groundwater.
Therefore, it is our earnest request to all of our festival loving people that, celebrate Dipawali with light, which is the symbol of love, wisdom, hope and peace! If it is possible, we should avoid bursting crackers, which are not only health hazardous but helps in global warming producing green house gases!
Happy Dipawali!
courtesy: dnaindia.com
photo: google image
