Health Minister Warns Public on the Hazard of PM2.5 Pollutant
Translator
Editor
30 August 2023 21:18 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin revealed the health hazard of a particulate matter of PM2.5 pollutant. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also regulated the maximum limit of PM2.5 exposure in its guidelines.
WHO, according to the minister, divided pollutants into two parts, namely the four gas pollutants consisting of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur oxide, and carbon monoxide, and the two particulate matter pollutants consisting of PM2.5 and PM10.
"The most dangerous [pollutant] is PM2.5 due to its minuscule size, [PM2.5] could penetrate the bloodstream and enter the lungs," he said during a working meeting of Commission IX of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.
Minister Budi mentioned that PM2.5 is rooted in carbon burning such as gasoline, steam power plants, smelters, and waste burning.
WHO targets the maximum limit of PM2.5 pollution at an average of 55 microns gram per meter cubic per day, and 15 microns gram per meter cubic per year. Recently, however, WHO has lowered the standard to 15 microns gram per meter cubic per day, and 5 microns gram per meter cubic per year.
Jakarta, the health minister revealed, has consistently surpassed that limit for the past three years.
The situation is intertwined with the rise of several respiratory diseases burdening the national social security agency. These diseases are pneumonia, tuberculosis, ISPA, asthma, and lung cancer. These diseases, Budi said, absorbed Rp10 trillion of the agency budget in 2022.
ANTARA
Editor's Choice: Health Minister Urges Health Centers to Measure Jakarta's Air Quality Routinely
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
