EDITORIAL - Killer air

There’s comfort in the thought that we are not alone. But being among the 90 percent of people around the planet breathing heavily polluted air does not diminish the urgency of doing more to improve air quality.

Last Wednesday, the World Health Organization released updated estimates of the cost of outdoor and household air pollution: seven million deaths a year, with fine particles in the air causing lung cancer, stroke, heart disease as well as chronic and acute respiratory diseases such as asthma.

In the Philippines, a drive through the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila and other densely populated urban centers will show the weakness of efforts to curb air pollution. Years after the passage of the Clean Air Act, many buses, jeepneys, trucks and motorcycles in particular continue to emit visible black fumes. How do these vehicles manage to pass emission testing upon registration?

Several industrial enterprises are moving to adopt environment-friendly even if costlier technology, literally cleaning up their act. But all over the country, industrial operations continue to be among the major polluters of air even in the countryside.

Philippine cities at least are not listed among the world’s worst in terms of air pollution. The WHO study shows that the 14 most polluted cities in the world are in India, where millions of impoverished households still use polluting stoves and fuels. This is a problem for approximately three billion people or about 40 percent of the global population, according to the WHO, whose ambient air quality database covers 4,300 cities in 108 countries. China, with its industrial operations, also has several cities on the most polluted list.

One good news in the WHO report is that more countries are taking action or intensifying efforts to reduce air pollution. India is confronting the cooking fuel problem while other countries are implementing measures to promote cleaner and more efficient use of energy. In the Philippines, the current effort to clean up tourist destinations must be complemented by aggressive efforts to promote clean air.