The Covid-19 pandemic has caused noticeable changes in people’s daily habits. Something quite obvious that you can observe with your patients and even in your daily life is an increase in the use of disinfectant products. Now they are mandatory and although they are necessary for personal protection they also have a negative part.
In accordance with Oscar Peralta Rosales, researcher at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences (CCA) of the UNAM, vehicular pollutants in the air were reduced in the last year but were replaced by solvents and organic derivatives from cleaning and disinfection products, which reacted with the air and they generated almost the same amount of ozone as before the health emergency.
Dangerous moment for the world
On the occasion of International Clean Air Day for a blue sky, which is held on September 7, the specialist from the Department of Environmental Sciences specified that as a result of the decrease in the circulation of vehicles, their emissions were reduced, as well as industrial emissions and polluting gases.
In 2020, the United Nations General Assembly established September 7 as the International Clean Air Day for a blue sky, thanks to the interest of the international community in increasing efforts to improve air quality and protect human health.
Peralta Rosales explained that last year a study was prepared that showed the reduction of polluting emissions from vehicles and industries, and despite this, environmental contingencies were maintained. Although many contingencies have not been recorded so far in 2021, there were high concentrations of pollutants.
Where do these organic compounds come from? From floor and object cleaners, gels that contain alcohol that are currently used in high volumes, which are volatile and therefore go into the air where they react with compounds such as nitrogen oxides, with the help of sunlight and they end up forming ozone in the city.
Ozone has long been used as a metric to measure air quality, so it is difficult to determine what will happen now that school activities have returned and more cars are on the road. Probably, the researcher estimated, a new equilibrium of reactions will be reached.
The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) details on its website that ozone generated at ground level (and should not be confused with the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere) is one of the main components of the Smog and, in excess, causes respiratory problems, causes asthma, reduces lung function and gives rise to lung problems.
To this pollutant must be added nitrogen dioxide emissions (produced by heating, electricity generation and vehicle engines) and sulfur dioxide (generated by the combustion of coal or oil and their derivatives) that also decrease lung function , affect the respiratory system, and increase hospital admissions for heart disease.
In addition to the above, due to the air or wind factor, pollutants tend to disperse and be transported to other entities, for example, a study by Peralta Rosales found that pollutants from Toluca usually arrive in Mexico City at a certain time of the year, while generated here can travel to the United States.
The researcher emphasized that it is possible to have clean skies; However, the problem is that in large cities, such as the Mexican capital, the elimination of pollutants has stagnated.
Although science has proposed capturing carbon dioxide in alkaline solutions and removing it from the atmosphere or precipitating other pollutants to the ground, it has been observed that it is easier to prevent them from being emitted into the atmosphere rather than trying to remove them.
This requires reducing emissions from motor vehicles, houses, factories, increasing green areas, controlling land invasions, recovering aquifer recharge areas, improving public transportation, and increasing bicycle lanes. Together, working in a coordinated way, we can significantly improve air quality, concluded Peralta Rosales.
More heat in CDMX
If the trend of loss of vegetation continues due to the advance of the urban area in Mexico City, important conservation areas will be lost and thus the cooling effect they generate for the metropolis will decrease, in addition to the increase in temperature that the asphalt and the concrete they generate, indicated Víctor Magaña Rueda, a researcher at the Institute of Geography.
The Atmospheric Sciences expert said that changes in cities arise slowly but constantly, and not always under the best development patterns, they occur gradually. In the future, most of the Mexican population will live in metropolises, hence it is important to plan them.