Such particles are found to be less than a millimetre in radius and are measured in nanometres.  Photographs by Vikas Choudhary/CSE
Air

When walking isn't healthy: New study finds pedestrians in Delhi exposed to millions of harmful nanoparticles

The nanoparticles are found to originate from inside the combustion engines of vehicles.

DTE Staff

A new study has revealed that pedestrians in Delhi are exposed to millions of harmful nanoparticles, raising concerns about the health impacts of walking in the city.

The study was jointly conducted by Ahmedabad's Physical Research Laboratory and Delhi Technological University (DTU) and focused on the smallest classification of suspended particles in the air which are commonly known as PM 1.

It is mostly the underprivileged sections of the population that are forced to walk on foot.

Such particles are found to be less than a millimetre in radius and are measured in nanometres.

The study reported that on an average, Delhi residents, especially pedestrians are exposed to as many as 10-18 million such nanoparticles in a day.

The nanoparticles are found originate from inside the combustion engines of vehicles.

Such particles are so small that they can embed themselves within human lungs and deposit in vital organs including brains.