MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile plays dumb with dangerous smog levels

For seven hours last Sunday, between seven a.m. and two p.m., Santiago residents were exposed to exceptionally high levels of air pollution and smog.

Despite the Particle Quality Index (ICAP) reaching a peak of 213 ? breaking the threshold of 200 which is considered bad air quality ? the government failed to call a "smog alert."

The concern about a high smog level first came on Saturday, when environmental authorities received a report from the University of Santiago, which operates the contamination forecast system, warning that on the following day there would be poor ventilation conditions, and that an alert should be called.

The director of the meteorology and air quality unit of the National Center of the Environment at the University of Chile, Manuel Merino, said that heavy smog days can be predicted. "The bad ventilation conditions in Santiago come from its being in the lowest part of valley that prevents the circulation of the air and favors the concentrations of smog." He added that these climatic conditions "can be anticipated two or three days before they happen."

If the government declares an alert, it can restrict the use of vehicles without catalytic converters, which are a main sources of contamination in the region. Seventy-seven percent of Santiago's air contamination comes from cars and trucks (whose numbers are increasing each year.

The Metropolitan Region Governor Victor Barrueto claims that there was a problem with the monitoring systems, and that the authorities did not receive word about the pollution levels until Sunday at 12 p.m., by which time it was already too late to take any effective action.

Still, Barrueto admitted the error, and assured citizens that "this won't happen again. It is the Intendante's policy to decree all alerts, pre-emergencies, and emergencies that are necessary, because the health of the people is the most important thing."

He maintained that even though there were critical levels of smog, the government did not take any measures because "they would not have been effective." He said that issuing a belated alert in response to the critical episode would have been ineffective because traffic is naturally so much lower on Sundays. "The measures lose their efficiency on weekends," he said.

Smog can inflame breathing passages, decreasing the lung's working capacity, and cause shortness of breath, pain when inhaling deeply, wheezing, and coughing. It can cause eye and nose irritation and dry out the protective membranes of the nose and throat and interfere with the body's ability to fight infection, increasing susceptibility to illness. Prolonged exposure to contaminated air can cause asthma and cancer.

Contaminated air is especially dangerous to the health of children and seniors. The head of the intensive care unit of the Indisa Clinic, Pedro Astudillo, explains that "minors are forming their respiratory apparatus and seniors have a system that, in general, is deteriorated."

According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, living in a badly contaminated city can be as bad for your health as inhaling a lifetime's worth of second-hand smoke. Michael Thun, an expert with the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia, says, "What we found was that living in the (American) city with the highest air pollution was approximately equal to the risk of second hand smoke? being a non-smoker married to a smoker."

Johnny Carrasco, the mayor of the Santiago borough Pudahuel, said that smog in his community "translates into a rise in visits to doctor's offices in the 24 hours after the critical days."

This latest environmental issue comes one week after an audit of the government's anti-contamination project revealed serious shortcomings (Ed. note, see today's feature for commentary on the audit). The levels of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometers (PM10 particles) in Santiago's air exceed Chile's norms by 75 percent; Santiago's levels of carbon monoxide exceed norms by 80 percent.

By Geoff Burt The Santiago Times - News about Chile