Highways' impacts on human health to be studied
By Nigar Orujova
The impacts of highways on the health of people living near them will be studied in Azerbaijan.
Head of the Department of Eco Geography at the Geography Institute of ANAS Enver Aliyev said, at the initial stage, a research would be conducted on some parts of the Baku-Guba-Russian state border highway.
During the research, cars' environmental pollution would be studied. Moreover, the highways' noises would also be studied.
Aliyev added that one side of 200km Baku-Guba highway is severely polluted.
"According to 2010 datum, some 28,200 cars are passing along this road per night. As a result, hundreds of tons of wastes are released each day. There are various facilities, vegetable-growing areas, gardens and Samur-Absheron canal providing Baku with drinking water along the highway. Wastes fall into the ground. Then plants and fruits absorb it. So, animals eat contaminated plants, and then the contamination pass to the human body. This process poses a threat to human life," he said.
The project to conduct the research will be launched soon, Aliyev said. It has been presented to the Science Development Fund under the Azerbaijan's President. Implementation of the project will start from next January after its financial budget is provided.
The project's results will show how we can protect the human life against the effects of highways' wastes.
The same research is planned to be conducted at all main highways including Baku-Gazakh-Tbilisi, Baku-Iranian state border, in the next five years, Aliyev said.
It is a common knowledge that people living close to busy highways or roads are more likely to contract various diseases compared to those living far from congested streets.
Air and noise pollution is the main problem people living near highways face with.
Scientists believe that people living within 90 meters to major highways are more prone to respiratory ailments, allergies, certain kinds of cancers and heart disease that hits harder elderly and children.
Studies show that just driving or taking public transportation daily could put the passenger at increased risk of respiratory illness or heart disease.
Traffic pollution is a global problem that is expanding year by year. Azerbaijan witnessed a car boom in recent years and the number of imported cars is increasing annually.
However, the situation has changed with shifting to the Euro-4 standard. Azerbaijan has stopped import of cars that are not corresponding to Euro-4 standard from this April.
A 23 percent decrease in the car import in the first five months of 2014 was marked in the country. Experts believe that the number of imported cars will be reduced by about 20 percent to 75,000 units in 2014, while 104,385 cars were imported in 2013.
The shift to Euro 4 standard will renovate the car park of Azerbaijan, which may positively affect the environment situation near the highways.