Summary:
Timely intervention measures should be planned for safeguarding the health of the residents,” said Tripathi. There is a need for continuous environmental monitoring by government and non-government agencies, along with the monitoring of the health of the general population residing in the e-waste processing areas for long-term health effects of heavy metal exposure. This in turn is associated with significant prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity, namely hypertension among local inhabitants,” said Anamika Tripathi, associate professor, Hindu College and project coordinator, National Air Monitoring Programme, and principal investigator of this research. The other team members of this research are Charu Gangwar, Aprajita Singh, Ranjana Choudhari, Anju Chauhan and Atul Kumar.“The study reported highest prevalence of hypertension in the e-waste area, pointing to a probable link between chronic exposure to e-waste and cardiovascular risk factor,” said Tripathi.Expressing concerns over the presence of high levels of chromium, nickel, copper and zinc among residents, she said, “It is recommended that the health risk to local residents of the city should not be ignored. The research stated that among the three sites, the highest mean concentration of PM10 level and heavy metal was found at site 3 in Lalbagh.The research also found higher mean concentration of heavy metals — zinc, copper, lead, chromium and nickel — in blood samples of people in site 3 than residents in site 1 and 2.According to the research, among the people surveyed for the study, 32% at site 1, 44% at site 2 and 68% at site 3 were found to be suffering from hypertension.“The study found that chronic exposure to air pollution due to e-waste processing was responsible for alarming levels of toxic heavy metal in the blood samples of local residents..