Air pollution in this
country has plagued its residents for over a decade now.
in spite of the many measures initiated to tackle the
problem, the World Health
Organization (WHO) has
ranked the air of Mexico City
as the most contaminated in
the world. In each of the six
categories of pollution set
by WHO, like ; ozone
content to suspended particles, Mexico City's air has
double the levels than those
considered safe.
While pollution emergency is a regular feature
every winter, this time the
alarm bells have rung already
and the season has hardly
begun. According to 4 'he us-
based World Resources
Institute, "Of the cities for
which there is sufficient data
to compare, Mexico City has
the worst overall air pollution." WHO maintains that
humans should not inhale
air with more than 100 to
120 parts per billion (PPB);
but in Mexico, last year, residents breathed that level -or
more for 321 days!
Last month, when the
ozone readings rose above
250 PPB, nearly 400,000 pollution-related patients made
a beeline to the hospitals. A
continuous five-day emergency was imposed during
this period which saw industries shut down. People were
given two options: either to
leave the town or else stay at
home with their windows
shut.
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