RED FILES
Air Pollution in 200 Major Russian Cities Dangerous for Health
ITAR-TASSNews Agency, 13 October 2003
ByNikolai Krupenik
Air in200 major Russian industrial cities is dangerous for health, specialists said.
Airpollution in these cities exceeds the permissible level and has resulted in anincreased number of cardiovascular and respiratory cases, and congenial diseasesin infants. Their number has grown by an average of 14 percent in the last fiveyears.
Specialistsfrom the Main Geophysical Observatory, which has been monitoring air pollutionin 258 major Russian cities since the middle of the 20th century, said on Mondaythat the main pollutant is nitrogen dioxide, suspended particles, andbenzopyrene.
Accordingto the monitoring results, the concentration of benzopyrene in the air hasincreased considerably due to forest fires.
Amongother cities suffering from air pollution specialists named Magnitogorsk,Irkutsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and for the first time St. Petersburg and southerndistricts of Moscow.
Expertsfrom the Main Geophysical Observatory are taking part in a seminar of the WorldHealth Organisation (European office) on the quality of air and health inEastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The participants are developingrecommendations on how to organise environment monitoring, control andmanagement in these countries.
