Wednesday 3 August 2016

Breathing Polluted Air can Lead to Underdeveloped Brains

Health experts have claimed that brain development in children can be adversely affected by Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) – ranging from abnormalities to low Intelligence Quotient (IQ). They have also said that IAP has led to the difference between the working cognitive abilities in children dwelling in urban areas becoming 4-5 per cent lower than children dwelling in rural areas.

According to Dr. S.P. Byotra, the Head of Department of Internal Medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the findings are extremely unsettling as optimum brain development is central to fortifying the future of children. He also said that children are highly vulnerable to the negative effects of air pollution owing to a higher breathing-rate-to-body-size ratio and less-developed natural barriers in their lungs.

To add to their woes, the air within homes has no dearth of pollutants that can lead to health problems, for example, impaired brain development. Everyday pollutants present in the air like tobacco smoke, lead in paint and toys, toxic fumes from cooking smoke and mycotoxins are some examples.

The findings of the health experts were affirmed by another study published in PLOS Medicine, which is a peer-reviewed weekly journal. According to the study, air pollution in addition to causing respiratory problems can lead to adverse effects on the brain development of children for all ages – including infancy.

Medical experts also cited that millions of children exposed to toxic levels of pollution were suffering from detrimental effects to the brain, including the occurrence of brain abnormalities. The major contributors to this pollution were tobacco dust, IAP and airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Today, the fight to win back clean, fresh air from pollution is well under way. A large number of companies are investing their experience and knowledge to create tools for removing IAP. One of those tools is an air purifier and the world sees Blueair (www.blueair.in/011 4606 7140) today as its best manufacturer.

Air purifiers remove air pollutants from the air, and Blueair purifiers are able to do the same with a removal rate of 99.97 per cent. They are, therefore, removing all those pollutants that are responsible for impaired brain development.

In addition to purifiers, Blueair has also been at the forefront of launching awareness campaigns. In India, it has launched the Clean Air India Movement (CLAIM) – an awareness campaign about the harmful effects of air pollution. Spearheaded under the leadership of Mr. Vijay Kannan, the chief of Blueair India, CLAIM seeks to plant millions of trees in the years to come in addition to spreading the message about the harmful effects of air pollution. 

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