No conclusive data establishes correlation of deaths with air pollution: Govt

In a written response in Rajya Sabha, minister of state Kirti Vardhan Singh said pollution is one of the factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases, but no conclusive data establishes a direct correlation of deaths, including by lung cancer, exclusively with air pollution, reported HT. The minister of state Kirti Vardhan Singh told Parliament that pollution is one of the factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases.

₹858 crore meant to curb pollution still unutilised, says House panel

India’s fund of ₹858 crore for controlling air pollution has remained unutilised, according to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, reported HT.

The panel noted with shock that “amount to the tune of ₹858.00 crore allocated for ‘Control of Pollution’, which is 27.44% of the annual revised estimates (RE) allocation of the Ministry, remains unutilised since the approval for continuation of Control of Pollution Scheme till 2025-26, is awaited, even at the fag end of the financial year,” the committee said, while adding that “the rising environmental pollution in the country not only results into a number of pollution related human diseases and health conditions but negatively impact our ecology too.”

The newspaper said the panel headed by BJP MP Bhubaneshwar Kalita noted that pollution, whether it be air, water or noise, has gone beyond permissible limits during the last few years and has serious consequences for the health and well being of the citizens of the country. Air pollution, especially, has assumed gigantic proportions and has become a national issue.

US: Fossil fuel firms get direct email line to Trump to avoid air pollution control norms 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Trump offered fossil fuel companies an “extraordinary opportunity” to avoid their requirements to curb air pollution, the Guardian reported. The newspaper said the administration has set up a new email address, where companies operating coal and oil power plants can request a presidential exemption from their obligations to cut dangerous toxins under the Clean Air Act. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged to repeal environmental laws and allow “unfettered fossil fuel expansion”, the article said, adding that “rewriting these rules will take time”. This is why his government has “turned to an obscure and rarely used corner of the Clean Air Act to suspend pollution rules”. This allows businesses to be exempt if the technologies to curb emission are not available and the project is in the national security interest, the report said. The NYT reported that Trump government also allows companies to apply for exemptions on restrictions to chemicals, such as mercury and arsenic, 

Trump govt cancelling hundreds of grants to tackle impacts of wildfires and air pollution?

US senate Democrats are accusing Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of trying to illegally cancel hundreds of grants and “sometimes citing faulty authority to do so”, E&E News reported. The report revealed that Democrats on the Senate’s environment and public works committee have obtained a list of 400 grants that the EPA is aiming to cancel. 

The grants, many of which were funded through president Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), include support for communities affected by wildfires and efforts to tackle air pollution, The EPA has described the grants as “unnecessary programmes”, costing more than $1.7 billion, but a letter from the senators argues that their termination is a violation of contractual obligations and court orders, the newspaper report said.

Black carbon major cause of glacier melt, monsoon disruption and extreme weather: Study

Black carbon, a short-lived but highly potent climate pollutant, is responsible for nearly half of global warming, reported DTE citing new research. Scientists have warned that cutting black carbon emissions could be one of the fastest ways to slow climate change and mitigate extreme weather, the outlet said.

The study, released by the Clean Air Fund and backed by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), found that black carbon — commonly known as soot — along with other superpollutants are responsible for nearly half of global warming to date and pose a serious threat to the water security for billions of people. 

Black carbon accelerates the melting of glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice, particularly in the Arctic and the Hindu Kush Himalaya, the study warned. In South Asia, black carbon emissions also disrupt monsoon rainfall patterns, increasing the risk of flooding and extreme weather events, which in turn threaten food security and livelihoods.

Plastic pollution killing seabirds: Study links ingestion to multi-organ failure, brain damage

Plastic pollution is causing a health crisis in seabirds, according to a new study, which found that ingesting plastic causes neurodegeneration similar to Alzheimer’s in chicks as young as 90 days old. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, also discovered that chicks had cell rupture and multi-organ failure, affecting the stomach, liver, brain and kidneys. Scientists discovered 403 plastic fragments in a single 90-day-old chick, linking ingestion to neurodegenerative disease similar to Alzheimer’s, reported DTE.

Researchers from the University of Tasmania analysed short-tailed shearwaters, a marine wildlife species from Lord Howe Island, Australia, between 2022 and 2024. Describing the findings as alarming, scientists studied seabird chicks under 90 days old. They found their health was heavily compromised. The chicks ingested plastic through their parents, as they had not yet left the nest. The research also found evidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to the progressive degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.

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