Police using oxygen to counter air pollution threat

JAKARTA (JP): Traffic officers working from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. now have access to oxygen supplies from a number of mobile units, City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said yesterday.

"But this is very limited and is quickly exhausted," Iman said. He added that the traffic directorate had detailed data on the problem. The directorate, however, was closed for information yesterday afternoon.

Some officers had been using masks during their traffic duties before oxygen mobile units were introduced.

Iman, a former traffic officer, said that masks have proved ineffective, as they cause difficulty when officers have to use their whistles.

He said police are trying to find the best way to maintain the health of traffic officers.

"We would welcome any idea, particularly on how to face air pollution," Iman told The Jakarta Post.

A police source who requested anonymity said several of his subordinates working in the traffic section for more than three years have become infertile.

Infertility among males is one of the cited effects of pollution, resulting from high levels of lead in the blood.

Iman also said hypertension and breathing difficulties were common among traffic police.

"They get angry easily," he said.

Most of the diseases here are acute respiratory infections, according to the city health agency.

The agency's public relations officer, Mariani, said acute respiratory infections still lead the list of the city's highest cases of disease. Tuberculosis also still ranks high here, she said.

Poor nutrition and a bad environment are among reasons why the diseases have remained the major illnesses here, Mariani said.

A recent report of the World Health Organization also said that poor nutrition and poor home environments may increase the effects of lead exposure in many children.

The effects continue into adulthood, the report said.

"There is an urgent need for regulation and replacement of leaded fuels," the report, titled "Creating Healthy Cities in the 21st Century", said.

Up to 90 percent of airborne lead is traced to leaded fuel, according to the report.

A survey in 1991 by the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology showed that the areas with the highest lead levels included the bus terminal areas of Pulo Gadung and Cililitan, East Jakarta.

An environment researcher from the University of Indonesia said traffic police, officers of the land transport and control agency working in terminals and street vendors should wear masks.

Exposure to pollutants, Rustamadji reminded, is worse in traffic congestion.

Rustamadji cited studies by the University's Research Center on Human Resources and Environment, which reported the level of air pollutants in several areas.

School children who are mostly picked up by cars and traffic and terminal officers are among those particularly exposed, Rustamadji said.

In April, the head of the city tourism agency, Fauzi Bowo, said both traffic congestion and pollution are weakening Jakarta's competition for tourists.

He said the city, with convention and exhibition facilities as its selling point, would lose out to neighboring Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur if the condition does not improve. (bsr/anr)