April 27, 2006

I was pleased to see your story in The Review recently about rag pickers. As a public health doctor I take keen interest in essential function of garbage control. While the article brought attention to many aspects of garbage control in our cities, it missed one important point: public burning of trash. Public burning is not just a nuisance. Open burning of trash causes serious health consequences. Deaths due to asthma (especially among children), bronchitis, and pneumonia are all increased by air pollution. Burning of plastic bags releases dioxins into the air; dioxins cause cancers. Carbon monoxide created by these burnings causes heart attacks. To save lives and protect the health of the people public burning of trash must stop.

Short of leaving the city, there is little citizens can do to protect themselves from air pollution. Children and older people should stay indoors during days of bad air pollution but we lack a detection and warning system in the city. Smell is not the only sign of danger so it is difficult for people to know when they are in danger. Air filters and sealing rooms offer limited protection due to the severe nature of the pollution in the city. Rich or poor, we all breathe the air. We are all exposed to the hazards of air pollution in the cities.

I live in Clifton, Karachi where the problem is especially serious. There are many less posh areas in the city that are cleaner than Clifton. Huge open burnings trash pits have become routine in the area. This happens mostly at night. I have been woken coughing in the middle of the night four times this month due to the putrid smell of trash burning in DHA. Plastic bags are a large part of what is being burnt, and again a serious cause of death and disease.

Burning trash is not the only cause of air pollution in Karachi but it is the easiest cause to fix. Shifting from petrol to bottled gas for rickshaws and cars can also help improve the quality of the air we breathe. Such measures have already been adopted in Lahore and other cities in South Asia. That important reform will take effort and time in Karachi. Stopping trash burning can happen immediately, however. Authorities should put out these fires and prosecute those who light fires. Trash fire control is a simple police action. What is lacking is public awareness and political commitment. The new administration of Karachi can make an important contribution to the health of the city by stopping trash burning.

Gregory Pappas,
Chairman and Professor,
Department of Community Health Sciences,
Aga Khan University.

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