Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 29 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Annually 4-5 thousand of people die in Tehran because of heavy air pollution, CEO of Tehran's Air quality Control center Yusif Rashidi said, Mehr reported.
Rashidi brought up the latest statistics of Iran's Ministry of Health, noting that the situation with air pollution in Iranian capital is quite bad.
"The amount of asbestos in Tehran is 50-100 times more than in world's clean cities," Rashidi noted.
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals. The prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis (a type of pneumoconiosis).
Rashidi also said that in Iran the activities in monitoring of air pollution are poorly held, and there is not enough attention given to this problem.
"Iran experiences a lot of problems with fuel standards and car making standards," Rashidi noted.
Some experts believe that the biggest reason of Tehran's heavy air pollution today is because car manufacturing in the country is being done at a lower level, and the amount of manufacturing should be reduced.
Iran has previously had laws implemented for dealing with the problem of air pollution, however none of them worked.
"Tehran's air benzene level is 10 times more the standard rate," Rashidi said. "When problems with air pollution become critical, the Department of Energy should be handling such problems."
The laws included restricting traffic in Tehran (limiting cars entering the center of the city), as well as scheduled closure of schools and government offices.
Heavy dust storms also shrouded certain western and southwestern provinces of Iran, making breathing difficult for people.
Health officials have been warning about the aggravation of respiratory diseases and advised the elderly and children to stay indoors.
Experts say the dust storms descend on Iran from the deserts and dried-up ponds of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.