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Todays HT 6th July 2011 by charu.kasturi@hindustantimes.com

STUDY Research shows that exposure to level of particulate matter over prolonged periods, which is common in Indian cities, could damage key parts of the brain

: Waiting at a traffic signal behind a vehicle spewing pollutants could hurt your ability to learn.
Exposure to particulate matter (PM) pollution over prolonged periods at levels typical of New Delhi and other Indian and Chinese cities could impair cognition, cause depression and chronically damage key parts of the brain, scientists have found.

The findings, published in the Nature Journal Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that air pollution -known to cause body inflammation, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity -has other previously ignored public health implications.

Most big cities in India actually have pollution levels higher than the ones we used in experiments by the researchers, Sanjay Rajagopalan, Ohio State University professor and a coauthor of the research said.

“We didn’t expect the kind dramatic results we got. But the results suggest that it is very important for policy-makers in India to address these problems though it won’t be easy,“ Rajagopalan told the Hindustan Times.

The researchers -Rajagopalan, Laura Fonken and Qinghua Sun -exposed one set of mice to polluted air and another set to filtered air for 10 months before performing a series of behavioural tests on them.

Mice were tested because humans are exposed to several other influencing factors and isolating the impact of air pollution on the brain is difficult.

Delhi typically has average PM concentration of the range of 50-120 micrograms in every cubic metre, even after the reduced air pollution following the introduction of compressed natural gas (CNG).

The mice were exposed to PM concentration of 80-90 micrograms per cubic metre.
But the region directly behind a pollution spewing vehicle would typically have a PM concentration as high as 600 micrograms per cubic metre. “The tests were specifically designed for conditions in Indian and Chinese cities,“ Rajagopalan said.

Whereas, data for the year 2010-2011 from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) air quality monitoring and research laboratory in Mumbai shows that levels of most of the six heavy metals like lead, iron, copper, cadmium, nickel and chromium have shown a rise in comparison to 2009-2010.

The recordings were taken from seven air monitoring stations is Bhandup, Andheri, Borivali, Deonar, Maravali, Khar and Worli.

Levels of Lead has shown drop in areas such as Borivli and Deonar. While levels of Copper have shown a rise in Andheri, Khar, Borivali, Deonar.

(With inputs from Mumbai)