Madrid’s High Levels
of Air Pollution
This week’s article is about extremely high levels
of air pollution in Madrid, Spain.
Residents of Madrid are experiencing toxic pollution from motor
vehicles, which is what makes up three-fourths of the total air pollution in
the city. The claim is that pollution
levels regularly exceed European mandated levels of gases and particles. Recent studies have shown that air pollution
is linked to cancer and other diseases, so the residents of Madrid are often
worried about their health. In fact, a
small increase in particles of air pollution results in an increase in the
number of people admitted to the hospital for circulatory and respiratory
illnesses. Researchers are linking two
types of particles in air pollution to the populations’ health as a whole and
find that the effects of the particles are closely related to the size of the
particles.
Not surprisingly, people with asthma are at great
risk living in Madrid. Pollution is also
linked to low birth weight in babies, which was presented in one of my blogs
earlier this year. According to the
World Health Organization, air pollution shortens lives by an average of 8.6
months, where people are primarily affected by cardiovascular and respiratory
diseases and lung cancer.
To combat this social health issue, city officials
of Madrid enacted an air-quality plan last year that calls for low-emission
zones and promotion of electric cars, public transportation and bicycle usage. This plan, if regulated and enforced, should
reduce the air pollution in this beautiful Spanish city. There
is controversy over the statistics reporting Madrid’s success in reducing
pollution. They claim to have reduced
the sulfur dioxide levels, but many people accuse the government of fixing the
data.
Since I have started this blog, I have noticed that
many mega cities around the globe suffer from poor air quality, and it is
usually caused from the excessive amount of motor vehicles. Beijing is experiencing toxic level of air
pollution because of the overpopulation streets with vehicles letting off toxic
omissions. Madrid is experiencing the
same effect. The streets are becoming
more populated with motor vehicles, which results in poorer air quality for the
city. Residents of air polluted cities
such as these are put at a greater risk for diseases and cancer. What are they to do? The city provides jobs, and most people need
to live in or near the city to commute to work.
They do not have the choice to get up and move to a more rural area,
with fresh air and not as much pollution.
This would be my ideal solution for reducing my risk of cancer and
disease caused by air pollution.
Carly Taylor
April 12, 2013
3:20 PM
http://www.dw.de/madrid-air-pollution-reaches-alarming-levels/a-16739363
