The Indian Medical Association has decided to hold awareness programmes about the health consequences of noise pollution among public and students.

Against the backdrop of India being the noisiest place in the world due to noise pollution generated by the vehicular traffic, unnecessary use of air horns, sound generated by industries (powerlooms, spinning mills and foundries), crackers, loud speakers, and excessive use of mobile phones, walkman, ear phone and other such gadgets, the IMA would sensitise the public to the dangers caused not only to ears but also the entire body due to noise above 80 decibels.

Excessive noise increases heart rate, blood pressure and leads to endocrinal changes, C.N. Raja, Secretary IMA – Nursing Home Board, told The Hindu .

Noise at night causes sleep disturbances, especially for elders and young ones. Hearing sound above permissible level produces personality changes, affecting human productivity and also increases the formation of free radicals in the human body. All these are proved by various scientific studies, Dr. Raja said, calling for implementation of rules and regulations and restrictions against noise pollution during the conduct of political meetings and festivals.

Earlier this month, the IMA formed a Working Group to fight against noise pollution and decided to have its sitting at New Delhi shortly.

The Working Group was formed along with the Association of Otolaryngologists of India (AOI) during the National Initiative for Safe Sound Leadership Meet and Workshop at Chennai recently.

At the meeting chaired by A. Marthanda Pillai, Immediate Past National President of IMA, the first-ever collective attempt to fight noise pollution was formed with K.A. Seethi, Past President of AOI, Kerala as the Chairman, John Panicker, Past President of AOI – Kerala as Coordinator, and Dr. Raja, Past President of AOI – Tamil Nadu and Past State Secretary of IMA as Convenor.

Prominent personalities in the group include Padmasri Mohan Kameswaran; Padmasri Santosh Kakkar, Former Director of AIIMS; Yeshwant Oke and Sujata Rao of Mumbai; Ajay Lekhe – President of IMA – Delhi; and Social Activist Sumaira Abdulali, Convenor, Awaaz Foundation, Mumbai.

The meeting adopted resolutions calling for correction of noise to safe level at industries and residential areas; evolving corrective plans to wean away youngsters from abnormal use of electronic gadgets and loud music using devices that pose threat to human ears and affect cognitive activities of brain; seeking a government policy on safe noise level in future for implementation by industries and other institutions; and implementation of the same in metropolitan and other major cities.

Source http://www.thehindu.com/

With Diwali round the corner, fire crackers in the city have started arriving in new avatars. Wave a Harry Potter wand, watch a peacock spread lights through its plumes or light up a Christmas tree and watch it’s white and silver flakes err, flames, via firecrackers.The phatakas are as zany as it gets this time and here’s what’s in store…

With Diwali round the corner, fire crackers in the city have started arriving in new avatars. Wave a Harry Potter wand, watch a peacock spread lights through its plumes or light up a Christmas tree and watch it’s white and silver flakes err, flames, via firecrackers.The phatakas are as zany as it gets this time and here’s what’s in store…

Noiseless, smokeless in demand

Apart from the usual phooljhari, anaar and chakri as well as ladi bombs, this year there is a demand for items based more on light than sound. “Well, I wouldn’t say these are completely noiseless, but noise-less,” laughs Abdulla Ghia of a fireworks store at Mohammed Ali Road.”Earlier, the big draw were atom bombs, but now people want more aerial items like the rocket, flashlights and fountains.” There is a `crackling peacock’ that actually seems to spread its wings when lit up, a musical ground chakri and one shaped like a swastika! Made of recycled paper, most of the eco-friendly firecrackers have a lesser chemical content and thus emit lesser pollution and noise. Take the long `magic whip’ -coloured strings that just throw small sparks and don’t emit smoke. “Most people no longer like that loud dhamaka, and ground atom bombs are no longer appreciated,” adds Murtaza Sabuwala of a fireworks shop ahead on the same road. ” A new cracker, which is meant to look like railway signal, emits a red then green light just like a real signal. Also popular are `diamonds’, which just emit light and are safe for kids,” he informs.

Bikes and kids’ fiction characters

The crackers come packaged in everything from the Hulk to Pokemon and designer motorcycles and cars. A Doraemon firework goes hissing into the sky only to fall back within minutes and there are assorted flat cracker cartoons that simply whoosh about two or three feet, minus any smoke.”Another big attraction this time is the Angry Birds cracker, which is just a 5colour assorted fountain with a small crackling sound,” says seller Himanshu Mehta. He adds that the Christmas tree, which throws out silver lights like flakes and Harry Potter pencils that light up like real wands, have been selling like hotcakes.

Shopkeepers welcome sc refusal on cracker ban

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s recent refusal to order a blanket ban on firecrackers during Diwali, has been welcomed by Mumbai vendors. Says Minhesh Mehta, hon. gen secretary of the Fireworks Dealers Welfare Association, “It’s a good thing that this has happened. After all, the pollution in the city is not only due to crackers, there is so much noise and air pollution due to traffic and that too, 12 months of the year! I feel we can’t ban crackers as it is a fundamental right of a citizen to enjoy him or herself, but that said, people also should burn crackers with some self-discipline and not beyond certain hours or in silence zones.”

Source: http://www.indiatimes.com/

India: Rajarampuri, Shahupuri noisiest roads in Kolhapur

Rajarampuri, Shahupuri noisiest roads in Kolhapur – The Times of India

Rajarampuri, Shahupuri noisiest roads in Kolhapur

Rajarampuri, Shahupuri noisiest roads in Kolhapur – The Times of India

KOLHAPUR: The city’s commercial areas Rajarampuri, Shahupuri and the Mahadwar road were the noisiest on Thursday as Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated with sound levels exceeding 100 decibels.

Students from the department of environmental sciences of the Shivaji University, Kolhapur, monitored the sound levels in the city as the first day of the festival was celebrated.

Readings indicated that sound from almost areas crossed the permissible sound limits laid down by the Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB). Sound levels should not exceed 55 decibels in residential areas.

Noise levels in areas of the city like Udyam nagar, Rajarampuri, Shahupuri, Laxmipuri and Mahadwar road, showed consistent readings of 90 decibels and above, even at night.

P D Raut, the head of the department of environmental sciences, told TOI, “The digital sound systems are mainly responsible for these readings. Data shows that sound levels were almost double the permissible limits. Rajarampuri area was the noisiest recording 107 dB, while Shahpuri followed with a reading if 106 dB.”

Two students actively participated in monitoring the sound levels using a noise level meter. Raut said that four ten-minute readings were taken over 60 minutes in a particular area and calculated accordingly.

Thursday’s readings show that very few Ganesh mandals have responded to the Kolhapur police’s appeal for not using high decibel sound system. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com  

A right earful: Hong Kong’s noise pollutionHong Kong

Time Out Hong Kong | Big Smog | A right earful: Hong Kong’s noise pollution

Fewer people are now exposed to excessive levels of traffic noise than were a decade and a half ago, but the problem remains an issue in old urban districts, environmental officials say.

The Environmental Protection Department says it is in the process of updating a 15-year-old traffic noise pollution map for the city.

The latest data available on the departments website is from 2000, and shows at least 1.14 million people were exposed to traffic noise exceeding 70 decibels, which is the planning standard.

The [department] is in the course of reassessing the spatial distribution of traffic noise over the whole territory based on more recent traffic census data and the reassessment work is expected to be completed later this year, a spokesman said.

The department said preliminary results indicated the total number of people affected by traffic noise at levels higher than planning standards had been reduced, but old urban districts such as Kwun Tong and Yau Tsim Mong still remain the worst in terms of the number of people affected.

It added that prevention of noise problems through active planning processes and implementation of traffic noise abatement programmes, including the provision of noise barriers and low-noise road surfacing across the city, had helped lower the number.

In 2000, at least 37 per cent of people in Yau Tsim Mong were exposed to traffic noise higher than 70 decibels, as were more than a quarter of residents in Kowloon City, Sham Shui Po and Tsuen Wan.

The noise map on the current website factors in the year 2000s population of 6.6 million a figure that has since grown by nearly 10 per cent. Traffic flow is also likely to have changed significantly in that time.

Chinese University noise assessment expert Professor Lam Kin-che said noise mapping was an extremely expensive and difficult project to conduct, but was a credible way to trace noise pollution to its source. He said it was normal that such a study took a long time to update.

Lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan, who chaired the Legislative Councils now defunct subcommittee on issues relating to air, noise and light pollution, welcomed the move.

The subcommittee had asked them to update this noise map before, she said, but added that more needed to be done as noise and light pollution were getting worse in certain areas, especially mixed commercial and residential districts.

Buildings are getting taller and there are fewer natural noise barriers. Noise pollution can seriously affect the quality of sleep and thus the health of residents.

A British study last month cited a link between traffic noise pollution and an increased risk of strokes and deaths, especially among the elderly. Experts in Hong Kong have called for health risks from noise pollution to be factored into environmental impact assessment reports.

But the department said a 2012 study it commissioned on 10,000 homes found no conclusive evidence that physiological responses due to noise exposure were associated with a long-term risk of cardiovascular disease.

Noise complaints have been dropping over the years. From 4,952 in 2010, they gradually declined to 3,859 last year. Complaints specifically about traffic noise have also dropped from 215 in 2010 to 88 last year.   This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Fewer exposed to traffic noise as city grows