Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 21 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Annually, around 45,000 people die of air pollution in Iran, Tehran Municipality's Environment and Sustainable Development Committee Chairman, Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh said, IRNA reported.
Heydarzadeh made the remarks at the 8th Annual Cancer association conference.
Speaking of the cancer deaths, Heydarzadeh said that about 70 percent of cancer patiences die because of diseases related to environmental and humanitarian issues.
Regarding the air pollution, Heydarzadeh underscored that annually, some 1,650 million tons of pollutants gather in the air in Tehran.
Further speaking on the diesel-fueled cars in the country, he said that while a maximum of 25 ppm (parts per million) is allowed by world standards, in Iran the rate is some 500 ppm.
Due to heavy air pollution in Iran, country suffers big losses due to this environmental issue.
On Dec. 5, member of Iran's parliament said that Iran daily loses some $65 million every day, when schools, universities and other institutions are closed, due to heavy air pollution.
In October, the CEO of Tehran's Air quality Control center Yusif Rashidi said that 4-5 thousand people die in Tehran yearly because of air pollution.
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.
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.