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Parliament member: Diesel in Iran causes cancer in people

Iran Materials 30 January 2013 17:32 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 30 / Trend S. Isayev, T. Jafarov/

Diesel used in Iran is hazardous to human health, and it causes cancer, member of Iranian parliament's leadership board, Mohammad Dehghan said, Mehr reported.

"The diesel that is being used in Iran is nonstandard, it has a lot of carcinogenic pollutants that pollute the air," Dehghan explained.

He noted that the air pollution in Iran is a serious problem, that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.

In recent weeks, Iranian officials said that the air pollution in the country has increased, as did the amount of people visiting hospitals.

Motor vehicles account for 70 percent of air pollution in the Iranian capital city. Tehran says all carmakers would be obliged to manufacture cars meeting Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards.

Last month Iran was forced to declared two holidays in the capital because of the amount of air pollution.

Tehran, which spreads over an area of 900 square kilometres, is considered one of the world's most polluted cities. On weekdays, the city's population reaches 15 million, leading to traffic jams and high pollution in the city centre.

On Dec. 5, 2012, 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.

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