Worries mount over Jakarta's air pollution

Worries mount over Jakarta's air pollution

JAKARTA (JP): A legislator urged the ministry of health on
Saturday to announce the results of its research on diseases
caused by heavy vehicular emission in major cities like Jakarta.

Legislator Soegijatno Soesilo said that the ministry should
send the research results to the police headquarters in Jakarta,
which is particularly anxious to learn about the impact of gas
emissions on its traffic officers on duty.

Soesilo, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission
VIII which oversees health, told Antara that traffic gridlock is
dangerous for the health of police officers who are there for
hours every day.

The worries about the effect of vehicular gas emissions on
traffic police officers was aggravated by a recent report from
Thailand. The media reported that a Bangkok traffic policeman
died from illness caused by appalling air pollution, and one of
his colleagues was sick with unusually high levels of lead in his
bloodstream.

Thai Staff Sergeant Amnuay Soonjin died late last month in a
hospital's intensive care unit after suffering from severe chest
pains and leg cramps. He had also been coughing heavily and
vomiting blood.

Amnuay spent two years directing traffic in a Bangkok street
where air is thick with vehicle emissions, particularly at rush-
hour. During that time he developed respiratory trouble and lung
inflammation.

While Staff Sergeant Thira Narasri, who directed traffic in
the same zone as Amnuay, was recently diagnosed with high levels
of lead in his bloodstream and has since been moved to
administrative duty.

A respiratory expert with Thai Police General Hospital said
that a study conducted in 1991 showed that 805 of Bangkok's 3,500
traffic policemen were suffering from pollution-related diseases.

Another traffic police sub-lieutenant died a few years ago
from inhaling excessive amounts of vehicle exhaust.

Air samples on Bangkok streets in January indicated carbon
monoxide levels of 22 parts per million, near the 30 parts per
million danger-level by international standards.

Although the status of carbon monoxide in Jakarta is unknown,
it's strongly believed that it is around the levels recorded in
Bangkok.

In many of the world's most populated cities like Bangkok and
Jakarta, the air is known to have been contaminated with a host
of pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur
oxide, lead and dust.

Jakarta has a total of 2,356 traffic policemen and 2.7 million
vehicles. Bangkok has 3.5 million vehicles.

The case of the two traffic policemen in Bangkok was discussed
in a monthly meeting of all senior ASEAN police officers at the
Jakarta police headquarters recently. Many police officers are
worried about the health of the city traffic policemen as they
are yet to be equipped with air-filter masks.

House member Soesilo also urged the government to raise the
meal allowances and incentives for traffic police to better their
health status.

He also suggested the national police force, which is going to
celebrate its 49th anniversary on July 1, shorten the duty hours
of traffic police officers.(bsr)