Beijing: Long-term exposure to Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), a major particle matter pollutant increases the risk of diabetes, finds a study. Researchers from the Fuwai Hospital under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences as well as Emory University in the United States evaluated the association between long-term exposure to PM2.5 and diabetes incidence based on data collected from more than 88,000 Chinese adults, the Xinhua (New China News Agency) reported.
The team used satellite-based PM2.5 concentrations to assess PM2.5 exposure for each subject during the period 2004-2015. For an increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of long-term PM2.5 concentration, the risk of diabetes incidence increased by 15.7 per cent, according to the study published in the journal Environment International.
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The study would benefit policy-making and intervention design in diabetes prevention, the researchers said. said Lu Xiangfeng, from the Fuwai Hospital,
Our future work will focus on introducing spatiotemporal data of PM2.5 at higher resolution and indoor source of exposures to further detect the health effects of long-term exposure to PM2.5.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution can lead to lung cancer, respiratory infection, stroke, and even heart disease.
Air pollution and diabetes are responsible for millions of death globally. Data from the WHO show that in 2014, 8.5 per cent of adults developed diabetes and that in 2015, this health condition resulted in 1.6 million deaths.
As per the WHO standard, the annual permissible concentration of the toxic pollutant PM 2.5 is 10 µg/m³, and the 24- hours permissible concentration is 25 µg/m³.
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NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’sSwachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign AmbassadorAmitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness abouthygieneandsanitation, the importance of buildingtoiletsand making Indiaopen defecation free (ODF)by October 2019, a target set byPrime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingandmenstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively onmarine pollution,clean Ganga Projectand rejuvenation ofYamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
