At Ground Zero: Something in the air, and lungs
NEW DELHI/SIRSA: It’s 4pm on the day after Dussehra, and Dr Paramjit Singh, a resident doctor at a district dispensary at Punjab’s Sangrur district, has already seen three patients with complaints of breathing distress, cough, wheezing or some form of lung-related problem. It is that time of the year when farmers start setting their fields on fire to get rid of the stubble left on the fields to prepare for the next crop season, and its impact is seen in the state’s local clinics and hospitals.
Sangrur is among the 10 districts identified by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) for reporting the highest number of stubble fires.
“Everyone is worried about the pollution in Delhi, and the health impacts that people have there, but the health impacts of stubble burning is worst experienced by the farmers and the families themselves here. The impact of constant exposure to farm smoke is gradual. Every year we are seeing an increased number of patients with some form of lung related distress,” said Dr Singh.
Doctors at the local clinics and hospitals in these districts said that increased exposure to stubble fires is causing an uptick in respiratory problems among many farmers and their families over the last few years. While many come in with minor complaints such as prolonged cough, bronchial infections, blurred vision and nausea, the cases of more serious impacts such as asthma, birth defects among newborns and even cancer are also on a rise.
Dr Ravindra Khaiwal, professor at PGIMER’S department of community medicine and School of Public Health, Chandigarh, says that respiratory disorders such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder), comprise only a fraction (around 25%) of the problem. Air pollution exposure is responsible for several more non-communicable diseases, including strokes, rheumatic heart diseases and even cancers, he adds, and Punjab is among the top states in the country that is witnessing an uptick in pollution-related health hazards.
“Crop burning is especially harmful because it has pesticide and fertiliser residue. This toxic mix has polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are known human carcinogens volatile organic compounds, certain heavy metals, PM 2.5. Farmers and their families are certainly at risk the most,” Dr Khaiwal said.
While a comprehensive analysis of the health impacts of farm fires on the residents of Punjab and Haryana is yet to be ascertained, a study conducted by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in five villages in Ferozepur in 2019 showed a spike in respiratory illnesses, especially in cases of paediatric asthma, among farmer families. The study indicated that this trend could be a result of prolonged and consistent exposure to stubble smoke during the harvesting period.
A senior doctor from the district hospital in Ludhiana said that the worst affected by stubble fires are children, pregnant women, and the elderly.
“When the harvest season starts, not just the farmers and the workers, the family members also take up the farm tasks. This means that they are in close proximity of the lit fields and are exposed to the smoke that is released from it. Now the thing is that we do not breathe the cleanest air through the year and at least four months out of this, these people are inhaling such toxic air. In such conditions, your health will slowly start deteriorating,” said the doctor, requesting anonymity.
Every year thousands of stubble fires in the agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana contribute up to 15% of air pollution in Delhi during the post-monsoon period, according to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in Delhincr and adjoining areas. However, experts said that daily contributions of stubble fires in Delhi’s air may vary from 4% to more than 35% depending on the direction and speed of the wind.
It also contributes to severe air pollution around areas where stubble is set on fire but granular data on local pollution has not been monitored by agencies so far.
Last year, a study by scientists at TERI, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and the Punjab Agricultural University, showed that pollution from stubble fires significantly reduced lung function and was particularly harmful to women in rural Punjab. The study was conducted in six villages of Patiala, between 2018 and 2019.
“During the crop-burning period, a twofold to threefold increase was seen in most respiratory symptoms (breathlessness, wheezing, cough, skin rashes, and itchiness of eyes among others) across all age groups,” the study noted.
“The most respiratory complaints were reported among senior citizens,” it added.
Many farmers in the state said that they were the first to be impacted by the farm smoke, and many people in their families and neighbourhood were falling ill, but they are compelled to burn stubble every year as they do not have a viable alternative.
They said that in many smaller villages the harvesting machines promised by the government are still not readily available and setting their fields on fire continues to be a more cost effective alternative.
“My sister was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. You think we do not know the impacts of stubble fires? We are the ones who face its impacts first. But what option do we have? Despite the claims of the governments, many small and medium farmers are yet to receive machines,” said Samar Singh Dhillon, a farmer, who is also a member of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
Angrez Singh, another farmer from Punjab, said that farmers become easy targets of the government to pin the blame for the pollution levels during winters. “There are so many sources of pollution that
act up during winters. Crackerbursting during Diwali, vehicular emissions etc. But everyone wants to blame farmers,” he said.
But politics and blame game aside, the impact of stubble burning is having a major health impact — not just in Delhi and neighbouring areas, but at the source of the problem itself.