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The thick <keyword id="23798559" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="toxic-smog" source="keywords">toxic smog</keyword> enveloping Lahore, Pakistan, has now reached alarming levels, with the pollution visible from space, an ANI report says. Satellite imagery from <keyword id="19935155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASA" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NASA" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NASA">NASA</keyword> reveals that the dense haze has taken over not just Lahore, but several other cities like Multan, making streets and buildings almost impossible to see, a report by Geo News said. According to the Swiss air quality technology company IQAir, Lahore, on Tuesday, turned out to have the most polluted air in the world. At noon today the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Lahore stood at 429 with one locality showing real time AQI reading of 720. The ANI report adds that this severe air pollution is linked to a combination of factors, including agricultural practices like stubble burning, uncontrolled vehicle emissions, outdated industrial practices, and weak environmental regulations. The crisis has become so severe that schools and public spaces have been forced to close. According to <keyword id="20018080" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="UNICEF" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="UNICEF" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="UNICEF">UNICEF</keyword>, the air quality poses an immediate threat to the health of more than 11 million children under five in Punjab. Health officials are sounding the alarm as hospitals fill up with patients suffering from respiratory issues, with a particular increase in children being admitted for treatment. Pakistan’s environment is no stranger to pollution, but experts are now warning that the worsening smog crisis in Lahore is no longer just a seasonal issue. In fact, pollution has worsened to the point where it persists even in the summer months, signalling a deeper, systemic environmental problem. The authorities and environmental experts are calling for urgent reforms. With the smog blocking visibility and causing severe health problems, the situation is no longer something that can be brushed off as typical for South Asia. "As smog continues to persist in Punjab province, I am extremely concerned about the well-being of young children who are forced to breathe polluted, toxic air," Pakistan Unicef representative Abdullah Fadil said in a statement issued in Islamabad. (with ANI inputs)

Lahore’s toxic smog is now visible from space, one area reports 720 AQI

<ul><li>One in every third child — about 800 million worldwide — are being poisoned by lead </li><li>According to the <keyword id="6355835" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="un">UN</keyword> report, <keyword id="520366" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="lead-poisoning">lead poisoning</keyword> hampers children's ability to fully develop and prevents them from taking the maximum advantage of the opportunities in life. </li><li>Further, childhood lead exposure is estimated to cost lower- and middle-income countries almost $1 trillion due to the lost economic potential of these children over their lifetime. </li><li>The study calls for the need to abolish dangerous practices like informal recycling of lead acid batteries </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/">Check the latest news and stories on Business Insider. </a> </li></ul>Childhood lead poisoning has been a long-recognised concern and a <a href="https://www.pureearth.org/unicef-and-pure-earth-call-for-urgent-action-to-protect-800-million-children-affected-by-lead/">new study </a>shows us the extent of this grave problem. According to <keyword id="56000" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="UNICEF">UNICEF</keyword>, a third of the world’s children - about 800 million worldwide — are affected by lead poisoning, through air and water pollution. They have found unacceptably high levels of lead in these children’s blood, at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter — the level which requires action. Moreover, nearly half of these children live in South Asia, states this <a href="https://www.pureearth.org/unicef-and-pure-earth-call-for-urgent-action-to-protect-800-million-children-affected-by-lead/">UNICEF and Pure Earth report</a>. “With few early symptoms, lead silently wreaks havoc on children’s health and development, with possibly fatal consequences. Knowing how widespread lead pollution is – and understanding the destruction it causes to individual lives and communities – must inspire urgent action to protect children once and for all.” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore warned. Findings of the UNICEF report <ul><li>Lead poisoning causes irreparable harm and hampers children's ability to fully develop - it has been linked to mental health and behavioural problems </li><li>Older children have higher risk of kidney damage and cardiovascular diseases </li><li>Children from low and middle-income countries are more prone to it </li><li>Childhood lead exposure is estimated to cost low and middle-income countries almost $1 trillion, due to the lost economic potential of these children over their lifetime. </li></ul>Lead poisoning - the leading causes The report notes that informal and substandard recycling of the lead-acid battery is a leading contributor to lead poisoning in children living in low and middle-income countries, which have experienced a three-fold increase in the number of vehicles since 2000. The increase in vehicle ownership, combined with the lack of vehicle battery recycling regulation and infrastructure, has resulted in up to 50% of lead-acid batteries being unsafely recycled in the informal economy. Workers in dangerous and often illegal recycling operations break open battery cases, spill acid and lead dust in the soil, and smelt the recovered lead in crude, open-air furnaces that emit toxic fumes poisoning the surrounding community. Often, the workers and the exposed community are not aware that lead is a potent neurotoxin. Other sources of childhood lead exposure include lead-in water from the use of leaded pipes, lead from active industry, such as mining and battery recycling, lead-based paint and pigments; leaded gasoline, which has declined considerably in recent decades, but was a major historical source, lead solder in food cans, and lead in spices, cosmetics, ayurvedic medicines, toys and other consumer products, said the report. Parents whose occupations involve working with the lead often bring contaminated dust home on their clothes, hair, hands, and shoes, thus inadvertently exposing their children to the toxic element. "There is good news to hope. The good news is that lead can be recycled safely without exposing workers, their children, and their surrounding neighbourhoods, ” Richard Fuller, President of <keyword id="5908873" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pure-Earth">Pure Earth</keyword> said. Fuller says lead-contaminated sites can be remediated and restored. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/india-stock-brokers-hit-by-sebi-direct-market-access/articleshow/77198064.cms">India's broking industry just got the shock of its life – SEBI may soon allow investors to trade directly on the exchanges</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/ril-has-a-sobering-quarter-if-not-for-jio-and-bp-stake-sale-it-would-have-been-much-worse/articleshow/77264366.cms">RIL has a sobering quarter⁠— if not for Jio and stake sale to BP it would have been much worse</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/comparison-of-indias-rafale-fighter-jets-with-chinese-latest-j-20-fighter-jets/slidelist/77238828.cms">India’s Rafale fighter jets — Here’s how it stacks up against Chinese J-20</a>

Nearly 800 million children affected by lead poisoning — half of them live in South Asia

<ul class="summary-list"><li>There's potential for an <keyword id="6395931" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oil-spill" source="Orion">oil spill</keyword> in the Red Sea that could cause an "environmental catastrophe," a new study warns.</li><li>A "dead" oil tanker with 1.1 million barrels on board is stationed off <keyword id="12037539" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="yemen" source="Orion">Yemen</keyword>'s coast.</li></ul>A deteriorating oil tanker with 1.1 million barrels on board could cause an oil spill that'd lead to an "environmental catastrophe," according to a new study. The study, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00774-8">published on Monday in Nature Sustainability</a>, warns that the F.S.O. Safer, an ultra-large crude oil tanker stationed near Yemen's Hodeidah port, poses a huge threat to the region.The tanker has been been "dead" since 2017 after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/defunct-oil-tanker-near-yemen-sink-any-day-millions-risk-2021-10">its steam boilers gave out</a>. In other words, the tanker has been just sitting there off the coast of Yemen, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/yemen-crisis">an area UNICEF has labeled</a> as "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world" due to the ongoing civil war. The tanker is "single-hulled, meaning a breach will cause the onboard oil to spill directly into the sea," according to the study, and a spill "could occur due to a leak or combustion." Researchers modeled the potential public health implications and found that a spill could disrupt the clean water and food supplies of millions of people. Cardiovascular hospitalizations due to pollution could also increase by up to 42% throughout the duration of a potential spill. From an economic standpoint, the study said all of Yemen's imported fuel that comes through key ports along the Red Sea could be severed, along with over 90% of the country's Red Sea fisheries. And as tens of thousands of Yemenis struggle with famine and millions lack access to basic goods, a spill could block the port of Hodeidah, which is where two-thirds of the country's food arrives, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/the-ship-that-became-a-bomb">the New Yorker reported</a> last week.As it is, over half the country's population is dependent on the aid that comes through its ports, the study said. Still, the disastrous potential of an oil spill is completely preventable through offloading the oil, the study said. But it's a tall order for a country already strangled by conflict. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/defunct-oil-tanker-near-yemen-sink-any-day-millions-risk-2021-10">skeleton crew aboard the ship has been fighting desperately</a> to prevent the ship from sinking, exploding, or causing a massive oil spill. And the Yemeni Safer Exploration &amp; Production Operations Company, which owns the Safer, reportedly only has enough money to make minor repairs on the ship annually. To complicate things, Houthi rebels who control the Marib oil fields near where the ship is stationed have obstructed any efforts by the United Nations or NGOS to dislodge or drain the boat.The study says no long-term solutions to improve the situation have been publicly proposed.

A deteriorating oil tanker in the Red Sea could cause 'environmental catastrophe,' new study says

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Lahore’s toxic smog is now visible from space, one area reports 720 AQI

BI India Bureau

Nearly 800 million children affected by lead poisoning — half of them live in South Asia

BI India Bureau

A deteriorating oil tanker in the Red Sea could cause 'environmental catastrophe,' new study says

Jake Epstein

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