Fine dust may be designated as disaster
The government will include fine dust as a “disaster” to deal with it more systematically, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Tuesday.
The move comes with the current fine dust blanketing the country showing no signs of being resolved, with emergency measures being ordered from Sunday to Tuesday in Seoul and the metropolitan area for the first time.
According to the ministry, multiple revision bills to the Disaster and Safety Management Law, proposed to include fine dust, are pending at the National Assembly.
The law currently includes 17 natural disasters including typhoons, flooding, heavy snowfall and earthquakes. Heat waves and cold snaps were included in September.
If the revision is adopted, the government will be able to set up a standardized manual for the control of fine dust at the state level.
However, it is still discussing whether fine dust is a natural or man-made disaster, the ministry said. The latter include explosions, fires, car accidents and environmental pol- lution.
If fine dust is included as a natural disaster, the safety ministry will be in charge of the issue. If it is classified as man-made, the Ministry of Environment will supervise.
The environment ministry has been in charge so far, ordering emergency countermeasures when fine dust levels are high. However, public calls have increased for the government to take the issue more seriously by designating it a disaster as episodes are becoming more frequent and critical.
“A number of revision bills related to fine dust are still pending at the National Assembly. It is a priority task to decide whether to include it as a natural disaster or a man-made one,” an interior ministry official said.
“Whether it is natural or man-made is not important to the government; it is important to designate fine dust as a disaster in any form as soon as possible so we can set up more systematic countermeasures.”
The ministry expects the revisions to pass by the beginning of next month at the earliest.
The fine dust level reached 145 micrograms per cubic meter Tuesday afternoon in Seoul. The World Health Organization states anything over 25 micrograms is a health hazard.
The ultrafine dust level recorded 153 micrograms per cubic meter in Seodaemun-gu, western Seoul, much higher than the 76 micrograms that is rated “very bad” according to the government categorization.
Meanwhile, a joint research team at Seoul National University (SNU) revealed Tuesday that fine dust aggravates symptoms of Lou Gehrig’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
“We’ve confirmed that fine dust aggravates Lou Gehrig’s disease, and there has also been foreign research that it can become a direct cause of Lou Gehrig’s disease,” said Lee Hye-won, a professor at the Institute of Health and Environment at SNU. “It is a similar finding to existing analysis that smoking can cause Lou Gehrig’s disease.”