Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University organized a guest lecture of “Air pollution, Stress and Inflammation†on Friday, December 20th at Convocation Hall.
The guest lecture was delivered by Irfan Rahman Dean Professor of environmental, Pulmonary Medicine, Public health Sciences and General Dentistry School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Centre, NY, USA Director, Center for Inhalation and Flavoring toxicology. Irfan who is the alumni of RTMNU gave a lecture on Air pollution, stress and inflammation and their harmful effects on the environment and on living organisms.
Rahman informed us that one of the basic yet most common problems which lead to air pollution is the use of Chullhas and the burning of woods in the rural area. The particles emit due to the burning of woods cause lung problems in females and are commonly affected with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) a common lung disease.
Speaking about the COPD he stated that household smoke like the use of Chullhas, burning of woods are a major contribution to COPD to non-smokers. The use of Biomass fuel is a major contributing factor in Air pollution and rural people are often affected due to these harmful gases.
“Another problem for the rise in lung diseases is the use of e-cigarettes and tobacco smoking which leads to COPD and can even cause cancer and death. Around 80-90% of deaths in COPD occurs who smoke and this rate is rapidly increasing†he added.
“Air pollution can lead to premature aging and is making our body weak as these pollutants which enter our lungs does not leave our body and causes life-threatening problems. We need to solve these problems as early as possible†he added.