Independent Air Sampling reveals 11 chemicals in the atmosphere of which four beyond safe levels

Press Release: 18th August 2010

On 22nd May 2010 members of the Him Parivesh, a local environment action group based in Nalagrh, with the help of Community Environment Monitoring, a Chennai based group working on pollution, took an Air Sample in the BBN area to detect the level of VoCs or Volatile Organic Compounds present in the atmosphere. The sampling technique known as Tedlar Air Sampling was used to collect the sample about 200 mts North West of Morepen Laboratories Ltd on the Morepen road in Baddi, BBN Industrial area. “The location was chosen on the basis of the stench in the area. There was a strong mint like, mango and sour like odour in the air at the time of sampling. The odours caused hot flushes, eye burning, throat irritation and heaviness of head among the members” said Balkrishna Sharma, of Him Parivesh.

“The sample was tested in Colimbia Analytical Services, a Laboratory based in the United States that we have been working with for some years now” said Shweta Narayan an activist of Community Environment Monitoring cell. The results that were given by the laboratory on 10th June 2010 detected 11 types of chemicals in the air sample. These are – Carbon Disulofide, Ethanol, Propene, Isopropyl Alcohol, Methylene Chloride, Chloroform, Methyl tert-Butyl Ether, Ethyl Acetate, Toluene, d-Limonene. Four out of eleven chemicals detected exceed the USEPA Region 6 levels or any other levels of safe levels in the air. These chemicals are – Carbon Disulphide, Methylene Chloride, Chloroform and Tetrahydrofuran. 2 carcinogen detected – Chloroform was detected 321 times and Methyelene Chloride was detected 6.8 above the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 levels. Out of the 11 chemicals found – all target the eyes, 9 chemicals target the skin and respiratory system, 7 chemicals target the central nervous system, 5 chemicals target the liver, 4 chemicals target the kidneys, 2 chemicals target the reproductive system and 1 chemical targets the Cardiovascular system, blood, heart and the Peripheral Nervous System.

Perhaps the residents living in an around the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industrial area are already aware of the threats to their health posed by the high levels of industrial pollution in the area but the point of this exercise was to use a scientific method to detect the kind of risks being faced and create a consciousness amongst the affected people. More importantly, the objective of the exercise was also to expose the ineffectiveness of a body like the Pollution Control Board in checking and monitoring this kind of pollution. “In an RTI response dated 14th July 2010, the Pollution Control Board has itself admitted that no monitoring of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) has been carried out in the BBN Area by them” added Manshi Asher of Environment Research and Action Collective, who had led the query with the Board. “If there are no regulatory mechanisms and systems in place, how can this body call itself a ‘pollution control board’” said Jagat Singh Dukhiya of Him Parivesh.

In a scenario where the Pollution Control Board lacks the wherewithal to carry out its own functions in an industrial area that is a toxic zone, asking for an extension of the Industrial Package and inviting more polluting units is like pronouncing a death sentence for the people living in the region. “We are still reeling under impacts of the Bhopal tragedy but there is little we have learnt from it as we continue to poison our own people and environment. BBN industrial zone maybe yet another Bhopal in the making” adds Asher. Him Parivesh has been raising these issues for years and has taken up this new initiative as a part of a campaign against industrial pollution. “We plan to involve communities in identifying the hot spots and problem areas and will continue pollution monitoring, not just of air but dust and water as well”.

Read More:

The Air Sampling Report

Press Release on Air Sampling Report in Hindi