Metro air quality worsening :Poor, commuters affected

I am reposting excerpts of a September 21, 2010 Inquirer.net article on pollution. The complete article is in this link.

• The quality of the air that residents of Metro Manila breathe has worsened, prompting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to launch a crackdown on smoke-belchers along one of the busiest thoroughfares in the metropolis.
• Former Environment Secretary Elisea Gozon, now a director of the Earth Day Network, said the dire air quality in the city was adversely affecting the poor and commuters.
• A 2007 World Bank report said air pollution was a major cause of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in the Philippines, costing the country P7.6 billion annually, she said.
• The World Bank report is bolstered by a study by the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine, which showed that more than 50 percent of the medicines sold in the country are for respiratory ailments.
• Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said motor vehicles were the main source of pollution in the metropolis, accounting for as much as 80 percent of the pollution. The rest comes from industrial sources.
• Paje said the increase in total suspended particles (TSP) could be attributed to the worsening traffic in Metro Manila. The longer a vehicle is stranded on jam-packed streets, the more pollutants it emits, he said.
• The main pollutants are “jeepneys, buses, and tricycles,” as many of these vehicles are old models and have inefficient emission systems, he said.
• There are 5 million tricycles in the country of which 2.8 million are in Metro Manila, according to the DENR. Motorcycles contribute about 20 million cubic meters of pollution load every year, the agency said.
• People who live 500 meters from major roads like EDSA are significantly at risk of asthma, lung diseases, heart attacks, strokes and cancer, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) read.
• The agency will also introduce electric tricycles in the Philippines to encourage operators and drivers to switch to the cleaner vehicle.

My notes:

I thought that I was actually helping fight pollution by commuting. Now I am troubled. This can have a major impact on the lives of commuters and PUV operators. I shall wait and see what lies ahead.