Toxic toll on nervous system

Vehicular emission is getting on our nerves, with crippling consequences.

After destroying the lungs and damaging the heart, foul fumes from the city’s transport fleet led by the katatel-powered autorickshaws are taking a toll on the central nervous system, says a recent study conducted by Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Calcutta.

The effect of toxic emissions on some non-smokers in the city and rural Bengal revealed “minor to serious” neurological disorders only among Calcuttans.

“This is the first such study in Calcutta showing how pollution can affect the nervous system and even prove fatal,” said Jaydip Biswas, the director of the cancer institute.

If the cause was vehicular pollution — 32 per cent of which is caused by the three-wheeler army in town, according to an Asian Development Bank study — the effect on the behavioural pattern of those monitored ranged from severe burning sensation to palpitation, lack of concentration to transient loss of memory, drunken feeling to reduced sense of taste and smell, insomnia to severe depression.

“The study shows that the percentage of people suffering from neurological disorders is much higher among those who are occupationally exposed to automobile fumes and pollution than those who are not directly exposed to it every day,” said Manas Ranjan Ray, the head of the department of experimental haematology at the cancer institute.

“We are concerned about lung function impairment and lung cancer caused by air pollution, but neuro disorder is another serious effect of vehicular pollution,” he added.

Among those occupationally exposed to the danger of neurological disorders are autorickshaw drivers, bus and taxi drivers, petrol pump attendants, hawkers and traffic policemen.

But doctors said those commuting every day on the polluted streets of the city are equally vulnerable to neuro disorders. “Prolonged exposure to air pollution severely affects the neurological system which is what is happening in our city,” said neuro surgeon L.N. Tripathi.

Parimal Tripathi, the head of neuro surgery at Bangur Institute of Neurosciences and Psychiatry, explained the pollution peril: “The toxic particles hamper the cerebral circulation causing brain malfunction. Also, lung disorders like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) reduce oxygen supply to the brain.”

According to the team at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, ultra-fine suspended particulate matter is the worst enemy of the central nervous system. “The fine particles (less than 3.5 micron) are restricted in the lungs and damage the respiratory system; the ultra-fine suspended particulate matter (0.1 micron) travels into the blood and the brain,” explained Ray.

The katatel-driven three-wheelers spew particulate matter, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon into the air that invade our bodies with every breath we take.

The government, of course, couldn’t be bothered.