Indoor air pollutants cause 50% of illnesses globally

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Indoor air pollutants cause 50% of illnesses globally

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Mr Ebenezer Fiahagbe, a Senior Programme Officer of the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA), has said indoor pollution has been as among the top

five environmental risks to public health which also contributes to an annual

8.5 million deaths globally.

He said this at a seminar organized by the Environmental Science Student's

Association (ENSSA) of the University of Cape Coast, as part of its annual week

celebration on the theme " Our Environment, Our Life, Our Responsibility " .

Mr. Fiahagbe said some indoor pollutants like carpets, detergent, asbestos

ceiling, lead paints, stoves, disinfectants, dust and mites causes lung related

illnesses like asthma, bronchitis, coughing, respiratory infections and cancer.

He said an individual's time spent is usually indoors which exposes everybody to

the risk of suffering from convulsion, coma and unconsciousness due to indoor

pollutant like the presence of lead in paints, drinking water, roofing sheets

and carbon oxide from stoves, heater and chimneys.

Others include indoor pollutants like Randon gases in walls and formaldehyde

based plywood and concrete walls also causes cancer, unconsciousness,

cardiovascular diseases, headache, dizziness, burning sensation in eyes and

throat, muscle spasms and vertigo.

Mr. Fiahagbe said World Health Organization (WHO) has stated in a recent report

that over 300,000 lung related deaths are recorded annually with indoor

pollutants like smoke from tobacco, pesticides, mold, mildew and dust mites

which have identified as a major cause.

Prof. Ameyaw Ekumfi, Member of Parliament for Techiman North, said

laws and regulations on air pollution in the country are weak.

Hence, international industries exploit these loopholes to pollute the

environment indiscriminately and cited the case of KOSMOS Energy who questioned

the EPA after they were fined 40 million dollars for releasing poisonous gases

into the air in one of their operations.

He said it was the prerogative of parliamentarians to ensure that laws on air

pollution were promulgated and that laws should come with Legislative Instrument

(LI) so that they could be properly implemented.

Prof. Ameyaw Ekumfi said he was saddened that agencies like Centre for

Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ghana Atomic Energy

Commission (GAEC) were poorly resourced hence their difficulty in undertaking

research to assist government to formulate good environmental policies.

He suggested that research findings on environmental policies carried out by

international research agencies should be domesticated to fit the country's

condition.

Source: GNA