Groups alarmed over pollution amid report NCR’s air is at ‘noxious levels’

DUE TO TOXICITY, NOT TAAL | Smog thickly veils the Ortigas Center skyline as seen from Circumferential Road No. 5 on the morning of September 22, 2023. Officials attribute the phenomenon to Metro Manila’s air pollution. Air quality in the capital has been recorded at varying critical levels. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines —  Two educational institutions are pushing to equip communities with information on air quality and its effects on one’s health.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Advocacy Campaign for Clean Air noted that out of all air pollutants, fine particles measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter “pose the greatest risk” to human health.

These fine particles, it warned, can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, which can lead to asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory infections, lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Air pollution is also a leading environmental risk to health, and 100 out of every 100,000 Filipinos die yearly from it, the Advocacy Campaign for Clean Air said.

Furthermore, it also cited an IQAir report from 2023, which said that despite the country’s air quality improvement during the COVID-19 lockdown, the air quality in the National Capital Region has already returned to its “noxious levels.”

Dr. Zab Reyes-Ursua from the Ateneo Graduate School, in the statement, also said, “Through collaboration, we can work towards a healthier environment where everyone can breathe clean, life-giving air without fear of adverse health effects.”

“The average healthy individual inhales about 11,000 liters of air each day. To breathe clean air is our fundamental right, and the responsibility to make this happen rests collectively on us,” Ursua noted.

With that, the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and the Philippine College of Chest Physicians (PCCP) will host a forum where health professionals and advocates will discuss valuable information on the correlation between air pollution and health.

The #WeWantCleanAir forum will be held on April 13 (Saturday) from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the PCCP Office in Diliman, Quezon City.

Attendees must only register through a QC code posted on the Advocacy Campaign for Clean Air Facebook page.

Forum speakers will include Dr. Miriam Yano-Lalas from PCCP, who will discuss the dangers of air pollution; cardiologist Dr. Rodney Jimenez, who will explain the relationship between air quality and cardiovascular illnesses; vascular neurologist Dr. Peter Alan Quitasol, who will talk about the importance of clean air to brain health; and physicist Dr. Gerry Bagtasa, who will give an update on the status of air pollution in Metro Manila.