Thread by @ANI

#WATCH | Gurugram: On air pollution, Senior Lung specialist, Medanta Hospital Dr Arvind Kumar says, "...All age groups are adversely affected by air pollution. You might wonder how an unborn child is affected because that child is not breathing. When the child's mother is breathing, the toxins go to her lungs; through the lungs, they go into the blood; and through the placenta, they reach the child, and the fetus, and cause damage... When the child is born, they start breathing the same air. Our air quality is around 450–500, which is equal to about 25–30 cigarettes in terms of damage to the body... They have all sorts of breathing problems..."

#WATCH | Gurugram: On air pollution, Senior Lung specialist, Medanta Hospital Dr Arvind Kumar says, "...From head to toe, there's no organ in the body that escapes the ill effects of air pollution. There is now evidence to say that it causes obesity, it causes asthma. When there is obesity and exposure to air pollution both present, the chances of asthma become many times higher, as was shown by us, the Lung Care Foundation. In a study of 1,100 children in Delhi, we found that one out of three children is suffering from asthma, and when obesity was also present, this number went higher."

#WATCH | Gurugram: On air pollution, Senior Lung specialist, Medanta Hospital Dr Arvind Kumar says, "Three days ago, there was a study from Europe showing that the incidence of breast cancer is higher in the population exposed to air pollution... It causes a huge number of diseases and disabilities. There are millions of premature deaths... There's data from the University of Chicago which says that in Northern India, on average, each of us loses about 9–10 years of our lives because of exposure to the levels of air pollution... To summarize, it's a massive health emergency..."

#WATCH | Gurugram: On air pollution, Senior Lung specialist, Medanta Hospital Dr Arvind Kumar says, "If you are asking whether air purifiers are the solution to air pollution, my answer is a big no. Air pollution is a public issue, and air purifiers are a personal solution... If the outside air's AQI is 500, then no air purifier can bring it to 15 or 20, and even if it does, then its filter will get wasteful soon. And you have to change it within one to two weeks. If you will not change, then its effectiveness will be less..."