'A newborn starts 'smoking' at birth in a polluted city,' doctor warns at Pollution Ka Solution Conclave
At India TV's Pollution Ka Solution Conclave in New Delhi, leading doctors warned that air pollution is causing visible lung damage, rising disease, and permanent health harm. From newborns to non-smokers, polluted air is affecting every organ, making it a public health emergency.
India TV's Pollution Ka Solution Conclave in New Delhi brought together leading doctors to discuss the growing health crisis linked to air pollution. The focus of one session was not policy or projections, but what doctors are seeing first-hand inside hospitals and operating theatres.
Speaking during the session were Dr Vivek Nangia, Vice Chairman and Head of Pulmonology, Max Healthcare; Dr Vijay Hadda, Professor, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, AIIMS; and Professor Dr Arvind Kumar, Chairman, Institute of Chest Surgery, Chest Cancer Surgery, and Lung Transplantation, Medanta. Their accounts painted a stark picture of how polluted air is affecting the human body, often irreversibly.
What newborn lungs should look like and what pollution is turning them into
Professor Dr Arvind Kumar began by showing images of healthy, pink lungs. "These are the lungs of a newborn. These are the lungs we are born with," he said. What followed was a sharp contrast. Lungs with dark patches and scarring, belonging not to smokers, but to non-smokers.
"These are the lungs of a non-smoker that I see in the operation theatre every day," he explained. He added that people often ask for evidence linking air pollution to health damage. "Is there bigger evidence than this?" he asked, pointing out that even teenagers are now presenting with similar lung damage.
"A newborn starts 'smoking' the moment it is born in a polluted city"
Dr Kumar stressed that polluted air does not stop at damaging lungs. Toxic elements enter the bloodstream and affect every organ of the body. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable, with exposure leading to multiple complications for newborns.
"In a polluted city, a newborn starts smoking right after birth," he said, adding that this was not an exaggeration but a reflection of constant exposure to toxic air. He described air pollution as a health emergency that is causing disease, disability, and death, noting that it claims more lives every year than Covid did at its peak. He also cautioned that e-cigarettes and vaping are not safe alternatives and cause similar lung damage as smoking.
PM2.5 and smaller particles are slipping straight into the bloodstream
Dr Vivek Nangia explained how different pollutants behave once inhaled. Larger particles like PM10 can get filtered by the body to some extent. "PM2.5 and smaller particles do not," he said, explaining that they go directly into the lungs.
Along with particulate matter, gases such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone enter the lungs and then the bloodstream. From there, they travel through the body, affecting organs from head to toe. He linked this exposure to multiple diseases, including lung cancer, heart attacks, and brain strokes, adding that cognitive impairment in children is increasingly being observed.
Lung cancer is no longer just a smoker's disease
Dr Nangia highlighted a significant shift in lung cancer trends. "Lung cancer is no longer a smoker's cancer," he said. "Earlier, only about 20 to 25 per cent of lung cancer patients were non-smokers. Today, the ratio has moved close to 50-50 between smokers and non-smokers," Dr Nangia added.
He also pointed out that air pollution is now the second most hazardous risk factor for human health, underscoring how deeply it has penetrated everyday life.
What three days in Delhi's air did to Barack Obama's lungs
To underline how quickly polluted air can have an impact, Dr Nangia referred to former US President Barack Obama's visit to India in 2015 for Republic Day. He noted that Obama largely stayed indoors during his three-day visit.
After returning to the US, a lung function test reportedly showed that his life expectancy had reduced by six hours, calculated at about two hours per day of exposure. The example was cited to show that even short-term exposure can have measurable health effects.
Why daily exposure makes air pollution damage irreversible
Dr Vijay Hadda summed up the long-term concern. "The damage is permanent," he said, explaining that continuous exposure leaves the body no chance to recover. Every day, polluted air is inhaled again, compounding the injury.
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