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Central America's Suffocating Cities |
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From the Tierramérica Editor's Desk*
The level
of solid particles in the air in several Central American capitals
violates international health standards.
TEGUCIGALPA - Breathing can be dangerous
in certain areas of Central America's big cities, such as the Honduran
capital, where the air is the most contaminated by particulate matter
of any urban area in the region.
The atmosphere in the political and economic
centers of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa
Rica registers total suspended particulate (TSP) levels higher than
the maximum accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO), of
75 micrograms per cubic meter of air, sources told Tierramérica.
This solid material is produced by the
combustion of gasoline or other fuels, or comes from the dust of
minerals or metals, paint pigments, pesticides, ash, and smoke from
burned oils.
The most harmful are PM-10 particles,
so called because they have a diameter of less than 10 micros, which
allow them to enter the human respiratory system and settle in the
lungs. The allowable limit set by the WHO is an average of 50 micrograms
of PM-10 per cubic meter of air.
Air pollution affects the health of more
than 80 million Latin Americans, says the Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a United Nations regional
agency. The harm is manifest in the increased incidence of asthma
and allergies, and even severe respiratory infections that can lead
to death.
In 2001, Tegucigalpa reported an average
concentration of 613 micrograms of TSP, according to a study by
Swisscontact, an international aid foundation.
"Recordings at specific points in
that capital showed up to 900 micrograms of TSP," while contamination
with PM-10 reached 161 micrograms, Rosendo Majano, assistant technician
for Swisscontact's clean air project, told Tierramérica.
The foundation has been tracking air
quality in Central America since 1993, and is urging the governments
to improve fuels to burn cleaner, replace older vehicles and make
public transportation more efficient.
"These countries already have regulations
in place. The problem is that the laws are not enforced," said
Majano.
In Guatemala City, with an estimated
700,000 vehicles circulating in the streets, atmospheric contamination
with TSP varied from 300 to 578 micrograms in different parts of
the capital, according to measurements taken in 2001 by the local
University of San Carlos.
Pablo Oliva, in charge of the study,
told Tierramérica that his team had readings of 45 to 59
micrograms of PM-10.
A Swisscontact study in Guatemala City
recorded an annual average of 237 micrograms TSP and 54 micrograms
PM-10.
Oliva noted that in 1997 Guatemala approved
regulations for gas emissions, but it was overturned the following
year. In 1997 and 1998, air pollution was reduced, but in 1999 shot
back up, he said.
Guatemala is once again in the process
of establishing laws to control emissions of contaminating gases.
The authorities in Honduras are working on drawing up similar regulations.
Since 1991, Guatemala has banned the
use of leaded gasoline, a measure that was not adopted by Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica until 1999.
In Managua, some 120,000 vehicles circulate
without having undergone emissions testing. The total vehicle count
for Nicaragua is 224,000, with 150,000 circulating through the capital.
The country is turning into "a cemetery
for scrap metal," because there is a high volume of imports
of old vehicles, says Roberto Dávila, researcher at Nicaragua's
National University of Engineering.
Air pollution measurements made in 2001
at six locations in the city, coordinated by Dávila, indicated
up to 70 micrograms of PM-10 and up to 500 micrograms TSP.
The ministries of environment, transportation
and infrastructure, and the Nicaraguan police have promised to strictly
enforce the law aimed at improving the capital's air quality.
In San Salvador, with around 350,000
cars, buses and trucks, the annual average for PM-10 was 60 micrograms
in 2001, while total solid particulates reached 97 micrograms, according
to Swisscontact.
Meanwhile, in the metropolitan area of
San José, home to 60 percent of the nearly four million Costa
Ricans, 70 percent of land transport vehicles are found.
The concentration of solid particulates
in the atmosphere of the Costa Rican capital was 230 micrograms
per cubic meter in 2001, with PM-10 at 35 micrograms, says Swisscontact.
Vehicle emissions are also the greatest
producer of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.
* Nohelia González (Nicaragua)
and Jorge A. Grochembake (Guatemala) contributed to this report.
From our files:
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