ULAANBAATAR: Fed up with the smog in Mongolia's capital, residents have resorted to sipping "lung" tea and "oxygen cocktails" in a desperate bid to protect themselves from air pollution, in spite of well being officers saying there's no proof they work.
Ulaanbaatar topped New Delhi and Beijing as the arena's most polluted capital in 2016, UNICEF said in a report caution of a well being disaster that has put every kid and being pregnant in danger.
With residents of so-called ger (slum) districts the use of coal stoves to cook and warmth their properties in the world's coldest capital, the place temperatures can dip as low as -40 Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit), air pollution has skyrocketed.
While most of the air pollution comes from stoves in the gers, highway transport and tool vegetation upload to the toxic mix.
On January 30, air air pollution was once 133 times higher than the secure prohibit set via the World Health Organization (WHO). UNICEF reported that circumstances of respiratory infections have just about tripled and pneumonia is now the second main reason for loss of life for youngsters beneath 5.
Worried folks have held protests to press the government to take action.
But some businesses are cashing in, despite the fact that a WHO reputable says there's no proof that such anti-smog products work.
Advertisements in Mongolia boast that "drinking just one oxygen cocktail is equal to a three-hour-walk in a lush forest".
At the produce phase of the State Department Store, blue cans of oxygen called "Life Is Air" are on sale for $2, and promise to show a pitcher of juice into a foamy, candy "oxygen cocktail" after spraying some into a pitcher thru a unique straw.
Other stores and pharmacies have oxygen cocktail machines that resemble espresso makers and can turn a juice into a frothy drink for $1.
Pregnant girls are a number of the most avid consumers of the Russian-made product, with some saying they are following their doctor's orders.
Batbayar Munguntuul, a 34-year-old accountant and mom of three, drank oxygen cocktails when she was once pregnant, however she ended up spending a lot more cash on medicine.
"Every winter we constantly buy medicine," she instructed AFP. "It has reached a point that it is like just any other grocery product that you have to buy regularly."
Like many different Mongolians, she has selected to shop for an air air purifier to verify her circle of relatives breathes blank air at house. Her system, which filters out toxic fumes, cost her $300.
The reasonable level of PM2.five particles -- which penetrate deep into the lungs -- was once 75 micrograms consistent with cubic metre last yr, or thrice the publicity really helpful via the WHO for a 24-hour period.
Air air pollution has been linked to asthma, bronchitis, and different long-term respiratory diseases.
Some Mongolians drinking particular teas named Enkhjin, Ikh Taiga, and Dr. Baatar that declare to scrub lungs.
Dr. Baatar's CEO, Baatar Chantsaldulam, said gross sales surge via 20 to 30 percent all the way through winter, when air pollution tends to achieve its top.
"First it takes all the toxins out of the blood, then it turns the toxins in the lung into mucus, and all the plants in tea helps boost the human immune system," he instructed AFP.
But Maria Neira, the head of the WHO's public well being department, said the "real solution" to protect the lungs and the cardiovascular machine was once to cut back air air pollution and avoid publicity to it.
"The business community will offer plenty of those solutions," Neira said, referring to the oxygen cocktails and lung teas.
"We don't have any scientific evidence whether they provide any benefit," she said.
Non-profit organisations equivalent to Parents Against Smog say the government isn't doing sufficient to cut back air air pollution and argue that ordinary folks should not must endure financially to protect their well being.
The staff organised a sit-in protest previous this yr.
"For the past 10 years, people have known that air pollution has reached dangerous levels," Parents Against Smog coordinator Tumur Mandakhjargal instructed AFP.
"However, policymakers only address the issue by talking about passing out clean stoves and clean coal," Mandakhjargal said.
The NGO says the government should give some 200,000 ger residents access to loans in order that they install heating insulation and substitute their stoves with cleaner warmers. It additionally complains that a ger relocation plan has been too sluggish.
The government spent $120 million between 2008-2016 to battle air pollution, with part of the price range popping out of its overseas assist income. Part of the cash has long gone to distributing low-emission stoves to residents of ger districts.
Last yr, the parliament licensed a tax exemption for corporations that sell air purifiers, whilst Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh issued an order to distribute $1.6 million value of the home equipment to all schools.
Non-profit organisations are giving for free air purifiers and anti-smog mask to schools, kindergartens and hospitals.
The non-profit staff Smog and Kids donated a South Korean-made air ventilation machine to a kindergarten in one of the vital capital's most polluted areas, and the adaptation in air quality inside and outside the school rooms is palpable.
Such systems can cost up to $2,500 plus $500 for installation.
But Smog and Kids consultant Tumendalai Davaadalai said air purifiers were not the answer to the issue.
"Mobile air purifiers don't give oxygen, they're not plants. The decision by Khurelsukh's cabinet to distribute air purifiers is a very bad decision," Davaadalai said.
"They are just funding businesses without any positive results."
Ulaanbaatar topped New Delhi and Beijing as the arena's most polluted capital in 2016, UNICEF said in a report caution of a well being disaster that has put every kid and being pregnant in danger.
With residents of so-called ger (slum) districts the use of coal stoves to cook and warmth their properties in the world's coldest capital, the place temperatures can dip as low as -40 Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit), air pollution has skyrocketed.
While most of the air pollution comes from stoves in the gers, highway transport and tool vegetation upload to the toxic mix.
On January 30, air air pollution was once 133 times higher than the secure prohibit set via the World Health Organization (WHO). UNICEF reported that circumstances of respiratory infections have just about tripled and pneumonia is now the second main reason for loss of life for youngsters beneath 5.
Worried folks have held protests to press the government to take action.
But some businesses are cashing in, despite the fact that a WHO reputable says there's no proof that such anti-smog products work.
Advertisements in Mongolia boast that "drinking just one oxygen cocktail is equal to a three-hour-walk in a lush forest".
At the produce phase of the State Department Store, blue cans of oxygen called "Life Is Air" are on sale for $2, and promise to show a pitcher of juice into a foamy, candy "oxygen cocktail" after spraying some into a pitcher thru a unique straw.
Other stores and pharmacies have oxygen cocktail machines that resemble espresso makers and can turn a juice into a frothy drink for $1.
Pregnant girls are a number of the most avid consumers of the Russian-made product, with some saying they are following their doctor's orders.
Batbayar Munguntuul, a 34-year-old accountant and mom of three, drank oxygen cocktails when she was once pregnant, however she ended up spending a lot more cash on medicine.
"Every winter we constantly buy medicine," she instructed AFP. "It has reached a point that it is like just any other grocery product that you have to buy regularly."
Like many different Mongolians, she has selected to shop for an air air purifier to verify her circle of relatives breathes blank air at house. Her system, which filters out toxic fumes, cost her $300.
The reasonable level of PM2.five particles -- which penetrate deep into the lungs -- was once 75 micrograms consistent with cubic metre last yr, or thrice the publicity really helpful via the WHO for a 24-hour period.
Air air pollution has been linked to asthma, bronchitis, and different long-term respiratory diseases.
Some Mongolians drinking particular teas named Enkhjin, Ikh Taiga, and Dr. Baatar that declare to scrub lungs.
Dr. Baatar's CEO, Baatar Chantsaldulam, said gross sales surge via 20 to 30 percent all the way through winter, when air pollution tends to achieve its top.
"First it takes all the toxins out of the blood, then it turns the toxins in the lung into mucus, and all the plants in tea helps boost the human immune system," he instructed AFP.
But Maria Neira, the head of the WHO's public well being department, said the "real solution" to protect the lungs and the cardiovascular machine was once to cut back air air pollution and avoid publicity to it.
"The business community will offer plenty of those solutions," Neira said, referring to the oxygen cocktails and lung teas.
"We don't have any scientific evidence whether they provide any benefit," she said.
Non-profit organisations equivalent to Parents Against Smog say the government isn't doing sufficient to cut back air air pollution and argue that ordinary folks should not must endure financially to protect their well being.
The staff organised a sit-in protest previous this yr.
"For the past 10 years, people have known that air pollution has reached dangerous levels," Parents Against Smog coordinator Tumur Mandakhjargal instructed AFP.
"However, policymakers only address the issue by talking about passing out clean stoves and clean coal," Mandakhjargal said.
The NGO says the government should give some 200,000 ger residents access to loans in order that they install heating insulation and substitute their stoves with cleaner warmers. It additionally complains that a ger relocation plan has been too sluggish.
The government spent $120 million between 2008-2016 to battle air pollution, with part of the price range popping out of its overseas assist income. Part of the cash has long gone to distributing low-emission stoves to residents of ger districts.
Last yr, the parliament licensed a tax exemption for corporations that sell air purifiers, whilst Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh issued an order to distribute $1.6 million value of the home equipment to all schools.
Non-profit organisations are giving for free air purifiers and anti-smog mask to schools, kindergartens and hospitals.
The non-profit staff Smog and Kids donated a South Korean-made air ventilation machine to a kindergarten in one of the vital capital's most polluted areas, and the adaptation in air quality inside and outside the school rooms is palpable.
Such systems can cost up to $2,500 plus $500 for installation.
But Smog and Kids consultant Tumendalai Davaadalai said air purifiers were not the answer to the issue.
"Mobile air purifiers don't give oxygen, they're not plants. The decision by Khurelsukh's cabinet to distribute air purifiers is a very bad decision," Davaadalai said.
"They are just funding businesses without any positive results."
Mongolians sip 'oxygen cocktails' to cope with smog
![Mongolians sip 'oxygen cocktails' to cope with smog]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
May 01, 2018
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