Chemicals released during burning of petrol and other fuels cause irregular heartbeats and strokes, says a study.
Chemicals released during burning of petrol and other fuels cause irregular heartbeats and strokes, says study
NEW DELHI: It’s not smoking alone that can result in heart disease but car exhaust fumes are equally capable of triggering the deadly ailment and risk of strokes.
Researchers at West Coast Centre for Oceans and Human Health, in Seattle, say the chemicals released during the burning of petrol and other fuels weakened the heart’s ability to pump effectively and can lead to irregular heartbeats.
Dr John Incardona, a biologist and toxicologist at the Centre said that the new research suggests that millions of people living in large cities are effectively “breathing an aerosolised oil spill”.
The researchers exposed zebra fish embryos to the most abundant oil and petrol and found that them developing heartbeat more weakly and with an abnormal rhythm.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are compounds released during the combustion of fossil fuels. The research data suggests that these PAHs are present in burning oil in levels high enough to result in pharmacologically active levels in the human blood stream.
Once in the bloodstream, they are likely to be toxic to the human heart, and should be considered prime suspects for the health effects of urban air. Or to say, people in big cities are breathing an aerosolised oil spill.
A physician who knowingly gave an aerosolised particle toxin to a patient with coronary artery disease or congestive heart failure would probably be sued for malpractice. But the air in our cities is doing just that to millions every day unknowingly, the report said.
Dr Incardona added, “It turns out that fish hearts even in the embryo function more like human hearts than even mice or rats, the usual test animals in human health studies.”
The Seattle Centre’s study becomes more significant in the Indian perspective.
The sulphur content in the fuel available in India is the villain causing health damage through its exhaust. The government has adopted a roadmap to clean the air of vehicular air pollution in cities after the Supreme Court reprimanded it for laxity in curbing air pollution.
An expert committee headed by Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has already been set up to suggest a roadmap taking the country to better urban air quality levels.
The Mashelkar panel wants to steadily reduce the sulphur and aromatics content in petrol and diesel fuels. Euro II, for example, stipulates that sulphur be controlled at 350 parts-per-million (ppm) in diesel and 150 ppm in petrol. Aromatic hydrocarbons are to be contained at 42% of the concerned fuel. The goal, according to the Mashelkar roadmap, is to reduce sulphur to 50 ppm in petrol and diesel and bring down the level to 35%.
Corresponding to the fuel, vehicle engines will also need to be upgraded. By 2010, a Rs55,000-crore investment is required by oil and automobile companies in improving fuel quality and vehicular engine specifications.
All automobiles and fuel -petrol and diesel - will have to meet Euro III emission specifications in the major 11 cities and Euro-IV norms by April 1, 2010.
The investment requirement of the automobile industry is estimated at around Rs25,000 crore over this period, a government source said.
b_rakesh@dnaindia.net
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