{"id":67512,"date":"2024-04-23T18:48:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T23:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67512"},"modified":"2024-04-23T18:48:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T23:48:45","slug":"where-can-you-hide-from-pollution-cancer-rises-30-in-beirut-as-diesel-generators-poison-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67512","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Where can you hide from pollution?\u2019: cancer rises 30% in Beirut as diesel generators poison city"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2018Where can you hide from pollution?\u2019: cancer rises 30% in Beirut as diesel generators poison city<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lebanon\u2019s economy and electricity system are broken and much power is now generated locally, with devastating effects on air quality and health<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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S<\/span>mog hangs over Beirut most days, a brownish cloud that darkens the city\u2019s skyline of minarets and concrete towers. An estimated\u00a08,000 diesel generators<\/a>\u00a0have been powering Lebanese cities since the nation\u2019s\u00a0economic collapse<\/a>\u00a0in 2019. The generators can be heard, smelled and seen on the streets, but their worst impact is on the air the city\u2019s inhabitants are forced to breathe.<\/p>\n

New research, to be published by scientists at American University of Beirut (AUB), has found that the Lebanese capital\u2019s over-reliance on the diesel generators in the past five years has directly doubled the risk of developing cancer. Rates of positive diagnosis, oncologists say, are shooting up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results are alarming,\u201d says Najat Saliba, an atmospheric chemist who led the study. In the area of Makassed, one of the more densely populated parts of Beirut tested, levels of pollution from fine particulates \u2013 that is, less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter (PM2.5) \u2013 peaked at 60 micrograms a cubic metre, four times the 15 mcg\/m\u00b3 level the\u00a0World Health Organization says<\/a>\u00a0people should be not exposed to for more than 3-4 days a year.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, the last time AUB took these measurements, the level of carcinogenic pollutants emitted into the atmosphere has doubled across three areas of Beirut. Saliba says calculations suggest cancer risk will have risen by approximately 50%.<\/p>\n

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The Beirut skyline is just visible amid a haze of smog.<\/span>\u00a0Photograph: NurPhoto\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s directly related,\u201d she says. \u201cWe calculate the cancer risk based on the carcinogen materials emitted from diesel generators, some of which are classified as\u00a0category 1A carcinogens<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Where can you hide from pollution?\u2019: cancer rises 30% in Beirut as diesel generators poison city Lebanon\u2019s economy and electricity system are broken and much power is now generated locally, with devastating effects on air quality and health Smog hangs over Beirut most days, a brownish cloud that darkens the city\u2019s skyline of minarets and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[34325,34324,3042,638,6917],"class_list":["post-67512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-abbie-cheeseman","tag-diesel-engines","tag-lebanon","tag-pollution","tag-the-guardian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67513,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67512\/revisions\/67513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}