Air pollution in Tehran kills 4000 people annually
By Sara Rajabova
Air pollution in Iran's capital city Tehran continues to claim the lives of thousands of people every year.
Member of the Iranian parliamentary committee on environment Mehrdad Lakhuti said that over 4000 people die each year in Tehran from diseases caused by air pollution, ISNA news agency reported.
Lakhuti said that overrun of the admissible levels of air pollution in Tehran creates big problems for the peoples and causes death among the population.
According to him, the main reason for the air pollution in the capital is the vehicles. He said currently only 40 percent of the population use public transport.
Head of the Healthcare and Medical Education Ministry's environment protection center Kazem Nadafi said earlier that about 2700 people in Iran die each year because of heavy air pollution.
Nadafi said that 2522 patients with cardiovascular diseases and 4525 people with respiratory diseases caused by air pollution are in hospitals now.
Referring to 70,000 old cars used in the country, he said that the amount of pollution they create equals the pollution caused by 2.1 million normal cars.
The air over Iran's capital is amongst the most polluted in the world, and experts say many Iranians suffer serious health problems as a result.
According to PSI (Pollutant Standards Index), last year Iran had 147 days during which the air quality was substandard. Two years ago this number stood at 217 days.
The problem of Tehran's air pollution has repeatedly forced the government to declare some days as holiday in the capital due to the high degree of pollution.
Tehran's pollution is mainly caused by the bumper-to-bumper traffic in a city wedged between two mountains that trap the fumes.
Major Iranian cities also struggle with air pollution on a seasonal basis.
The fact that some other big cities like Isfahan, Mashhad, Arak, Karaj, Qom, Tabriz, and Ahvaz are facing a somewhat similar situation backs up this view.
Iran had previously implemented some regulations for tackling the problem of air pollution, but none of them worked.