印度新德里比北京空氣差得多，為何美國(guó)大使館不監(jiān)測(cè)、公布新德里的PM2.5數(shù)據(jù)？《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》細(xì)究新德里的空氣污染狀況，觀(guān)察者網(wǎng)全文翻譯如下：

《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》1月26日?qǐng)?bào)道，1月中旬，北京的空氣污染程度增高，政府發(fā)布警告，并關(guān)閉了四條高架。人們出于恐慌心情而購(gòu)買(mǎi)空氣凈化器和口罩?？墒牵碌吕飶浡撤N程度上更為危險(xiǎn)的黃色濃霧，印度媒體和推特卻極少發(fā)出警示信息。

雖然北京的空氣污染程度在世界大城市中居于前列，但對(duì)比新德里與北京的每日空氣污染數(shù)據(jù)，可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，新德里的空氣污染顆粒更加嚴(yán)重、污染天數(shù)更多。拿最近幾天來(lái)看，在北京看來(lái)非常糟糕的空氣，基本上在新德里可以天天看到。

位于北京的美國(guó)駐華大使館1月中旬發(fā)布警告，稱(chēng)今年以來(lái)首次PM2.5濃度超過(guò)500。

但根據(jù)旁遮普巴格（Punjabi Bagh，新德里郊區(qū)——觀(guān)察者網(wǎng)注）的監(jiān)測(cè)數(shù)據(jù)，今年的前三個(gè)星期，新德里平均每天的PM2.5濃度達(dá)到473，是北京前三周平均值的兩倍。旁遮普巴格的數(shù)據(jù)通常要比印度其他城市和獨(dú)立監(jiān)測(cè)機(jī)構(gòu)的數(shù)據(jù)低。1月15日是北京PM2.5今年首度突破500的日子，而新德里今年已經(jīng)有8天超過(guò)500了。實(shí)際上，今年以來(lái)，新德里只有1天的數(shù)據(jù)低于300，而300乃是世界衛(wèi)生組織推薦值得12倍。

今年以來(lái)的PM2.5數(shù)值

“輿論關(guān)注焦點(diǎn)總是中國(guó)而非印度，這讓我頗為不解。”耶魯大學(xué)環(huán)境法與政策研究中心的環(huán)境評(píng)估項(xiàng)目負(fù)責(zé)人徐安琪表示，“中國(guó)已經(jīng)意識(shí)到必須保持信息透明，而印度則絲毫沒(méi)有感受到完善空氣指標(biāo)公布的壓力。所以，印度的數(shù)據(jù)透明度不如中國(guó)。”

專(zhuān)家們?cè)缇椭烙《鹊目諝馕廴境潭仍谑澜缟蠑?shù)一數(shù)二。耶魯大學(xué)最近的一項(xiàng)研究表明，世界上受空氣污染傷害最大的10個(gè)城市（原文為“國(guó)家”，疑誤——觀(guān)察者網(wǎng)注）中，有7個(gè)位于南亞。印度人為空氣污染付出的代價(jià)幾乎是最高的。最近一項(xiàng)研究顯示，印度人的肺功能是世界上最差的，比中國(guó)人要差得多。研究者們猜測(cè)，印度糟糕的空氣、衛(wèi)生條件和飲用水造就了世界上對(duì)肺功能傷害最嚴(yán)重的地域。

據(jù)世界衛(wèi)生組織數(shù)據(jù)，印度擁有世界上最高的慢性呼吸道疾病死亡率，以及最多的哮喘病死亡人數(shù)。根據(jù)位于浦那（印度西部城市——觀(guān)察者網(wǎng)注）的胸科研究基金會(huì)主任桑蒂普•薩爾維（Sundeep Salvi），近期研究表明，印度的就醫(yī)人數(shù)中，有一半人是為了呼吸道問(wèn)題。

 “亞洲清潔空氣”組織（Clean Air Asia）發(fā)現(xiàn)，2011年北京PM10的六個(gè)月平均值是117。“科學(xué)與環(huán)境研究中心”（Center for Science and Environment）根據(jù)新德里官方數(shù)據(jù)計(jì)算，得出新德里2011年的PM10平均值是281，幾乎是北京的2.5倍。

也許更令人擔(dān)憂(yōu)的是，新德里今年的顆粒物污染數(shù)值比去年高44%，達(dá)到328。顆粒物污染與過(guò)早死亡、心臟病突發(fā)、中風(fēng)和心力衰竭與密切關(guān)系。去年10月，世界衛(wèi)生組織稱(chēng)顆粒物污染可能導(dǎo)致肺癌。

美國(guó)駐華大使館在推特公布北京的空氣污染數(shù)值，幫助提高公眾意識(shí)。其數(shù)據(jù)在推特上擁有逾3.5萬(wàn)名關(guān)注者。位于新德里的美國(guó)駐印度大使館沒(méi)有類(lèi)似監(jiān)測(cè)，稱(chēng)印度政府自己會(huì)公布空氣污染數(shù)值。

在中國(guó)，許多城市居民都被空氣污染嚇壞了，一些政府官員表示，遏制污染將是首要任務(wù)。

但在印度，新德里的新一屆地方政府并沒(méi)有將治理空氣污染列入政府18項(xiàng)重點(diǎn)任務(wù)。印度環(huán)境部長(zhǎng)因?yàn)橥涎又卮蠊I(yè)工程而飽受批評(píng)，最終于去年12月辭職。而印度石油部長(zhǎng)接替了這一職位，并立即簽署了幾項(xiàng)可能造成嚴(yán)重污染的大項(xiàng)目。印度和中國(guó)都在去年11月的全球氣候談判中強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)設(shè)置污染限額。

一家瑞士的空氣凈化器制造公司IQAir總經(jīng)理弗蘭克•哈姆斯（Frank Hammes）表示，該公司在中國(guó)的銷(xiāo)量是印度的幾百倍。

“在中國(guó)，人們特別關(guān)心空氣，尤其是為了小孩子。”哈姆斯說(shuō)，“為什么印度人不關(guān)心，我也不知道。”

對(duì)于空氣污染，新德里居民在采訪(fǎng)中表露出既無(wú)視、又絕望的復(fù)雜心情。“我覺(jué)得空氣污染對(duì)新德里不是大問(wèn)題。” 20歲男青年阿康克沙•辛格（Akanksha Singh）說(shuō)。他是學(xué)工程學(xué)的，住在新德里郊區(qū)。他說(shuō)，新德里的空氣問(wèn)題至少比鄰近其他城市好一些。

1998年，印度最高法院裁定，新德里的出租車(chē)、三輪車(chē)和巴士必須采用天然氣，但效果只持續(xù)了一段時(shí)間。路上的車(chē)越來(lái)越多，1970年代新德里大約有80萬(wàn)輛車(chē)，而現(xiàn)在約有750萬(wàn)輛，平均每天新增1400輛。

“空氣比以前差很多。”科學(xué)與環(huán)境研究中心主任阿努米塔•羅伊•喬杜里（Anumita Roy Chowdhury）說(shuō)。

印度人不是第一天發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的肺功能較差，但許多研究者長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)將其歸咎于基因。

2010年的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在印度出生、美國(guó)長(zhǎng)大的兒童比土生土長(zhǎng)的印度兒童擁有更健康的肺功能。

“這不是基因問(wèn)題，主要是環(huán)境因素。”加拿大麥克馬斯特大學(xué)呼吸系統(tǒng)學(xué)助理教授麥林•杜恩（MyLinh Duong）說(shuō)。

杜恩在去年10月發(fā)表的報(bào)告中比較了17個(gè)國(guó)家、38717個(gè)人的肺功能數(shù)據(jù)。該報(bào)告排除了吸煙者，并根據(jù)身高、年齡和性別相互匹配。結(jié)果顯示，印度人的肺功能是其中最差的。

上述事實(shí)導(dǎo)致印度的一些有錢(qián)人考慮出國(guó)。

私募基金投資者阿納特•簡(jiǎn)恩（Annat Jain）2001年返回印度，此前，他在美國(guó)生活了12年。他說(shuō)，去年呼吸道問(wèn)題加重了父親的病情，最終因心力衰竭去世?，F(xiàn)在，他4歲的女兒必須每?jī)商旖邮芤淮魏粑到y(tǒng)治療。

“我們一出國(guó)，呼吸就恢復(fù)正常了。”他說(shuō)，“我和妻子常聊這事兒。”

（翻頁(yè)閱讀原文）

Beijing’s Bad Air Would Be Step Up for Smoggy Delhi

By GARDINER HARRISJAN. 25, 2014

NEW DELHI — In mid-January, air pollution in Beijing was so bad that the government issued urgent health warnings and closed four major highways, prompting the panicked buying of air filters and donning of face masks. But in New Delhi, where pea-soup smog created what was by some measurements even more dangerous air, there were few signs of alarm in the country’s boisterous news media, or on its effervescent Twittersphere.

Despite Beijing’s widespread reputation of having some of the most polluted air of any major city in the world, an examination of daily pollution figures collected from both cities suggests that New Delhi’s air is more laden with dangerous small particles of pollution, more often, than Beijing’s. Lately, a very bad air day in Beijing is about an average one in New Delhi.

The United States Embassy in Beijing sent out warnings in mid-January, when a measure of harmful fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 went above 500, in the upper reaches of the measurement scale, for the first time this year. This refers to particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which is believed to pose the greatest health risk because it penetrates deeply into lungs.

But for the first three weeks of this year, New Delhi’s average daily peak reading of fine particulate matter from Punjabi Bagh, a monitor whose readings are often below those of other city and independent monitors, was 473, more than twice as high as the average of 227 in Beijing. By the time pollution breached 500 in Beijing for the first time on the night of Jan. 15, Delhi had already had eight such days. Indeed, only once in three weeks did New Delhi’s daily peak value of fine particles fall below 300, a level more than 12 times the exposure limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

“It’s always puzzled me that the focus is always on China and not India,” said Dr. Angel Hsu, director of the environmental performance measurement program at the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. “China has realized that it can’t hide behind its usual opacity, whereas India gets no pressure to release better data. So there simply isn’t good public data on India like there is for China.”

Experts have long known that India’s air is among the worst in the world. A recent analysis by Yale researchers found that seven of the 10 countries with the worst air pollution exposures are in South Asia. And evidence is mounting that Indians pay a higher price for air pollution than almost anyone. A recent study showed that Indians have the world’s weakest lungs, with far less capacity than Chinese lungs. Researchers are beginning to suspect that India’s unusual mix of polluted air, poor sanitation and contaminated water may make the country among the most dangerous in the world for lungs.

India has the world’s highest death rate because of chronic respiratory diseases, and it has more deaths from asthma than any other nation, according to the World Health Organization. A recent study found that half of all visits to doctors in India are for respiratory problems, according to Sundeep Salvi, director of the Chest Research Foundation in Pune.

Clean Air Asia, an advocacy group, found that another common measure of pollution known as PM10, for particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter, averaged 117 in Beijing in a six-month period in 2011. In New Delhi, the Center for Science and Environment used government data and found that an average measure of PM10 in 2011 was 281, nearly two-and-a-half times higher.

Perhaps most worrisome, Delhi’s peak daily fine particle pollution levels are 44 percent higher this year than they were last year, when they averaged 328 over the first three weeks of the year. Fine particle pollution has been strongly linked with premature death, heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. In October, the World Health Organization declared that it caused lung cancer.

The United States Embassy in Beijing posts on Twitter the readings of its air monitor, helping to spur awareness of the problem. The readings have more than 35,000 followers. The United States does not release similar readings from its New Delhi Embassy, saying the Indian government releases its own figures.

In China, concerns about air quality have transfixed many urban residents, and some government officials say curbing the pollution is a priority.

But in India, Delhi’s newly elected regional government did not mention air pollution among its 18 priorities, and India’s environment minister quit in December amid widespread criticism that she was delaying crucial industrial projects. Her replacement, the government’s petroleum minister, almost immediately approved several projects that could add considerably to pollution. India and China strenuously resisted pollution limits in global climate talks in Warsaw in November.

Frank Hammes, chief executive of IQAir, a Swiss-based maker of air filters, said his company’s sales were hundreds of times higher in China than in India.

“In China, people are extremely concerned about the air, especially around small children,” Mr. Hammes said. “Why there’s not the same concern in India is puzzling.”

In multiple interviews, Delhiites expressed a mixture of unawareness and despair about the city’s pollution levels. “I don’t think pollution is a major concern for Delhi,” said Akanksha Singh, a 20-year-old engineering student who lives on Delhi’s outskirts in Ghaziabad, adding that he felt that Delhi’s pollution problems were not nearly as bad as those of surrounding towns.

In 1998, India’s Supreme Court ordered that Delhi’s taxis, three-wheelers and buses be converted to compressed natural gas, but the resulting improvements in air quality were short-lived as cars flooded the roads. In the 1970s, Delhi had about 800,000 vehicles; now it has 7.5 million, with 1,400 more added daily.

“Now the air is far worse than it ever was,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the Center for Science and Environment.

Indians’ relatively poor lung function has long been recognized, but researchers assumed for years that the difference was genetic.

Then a 2010 study found that the children of Indian immigrants who were born and raised in the United States had far better lung function than those born and raised in India.

“It’s not genetics; it’s mostly the environment,” said Dr. MyLinh Duong, an assistant professor of respirology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

In a study published in October, Dr. Duong compared lung tests taken in 38,517 healthy nonsmokers from 17 countries who were matched by height, age and sex. Indians’ lung function was by far the lowest among those tested.

All of this has led some wealthy Indians to consider leaving.

Annat Jain, a private equity investor who returned to India in 2001 after spending 12 years in the United States, said his father died last year of heart failure worsened by breathing problems. Now his 4-year-old daughter must be given twice-daily breathing treatments.

“But whenever we leave the country, everyone goes back to breathing normally,” he said. “It’s something my wife and I talk about constantly.”

Malavika Vyawahare contributed reporting from New Delhi, and Edward Wong from Beijing.

A version of this article appears in print on January 26, 2014, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Beijing’s Bad Air Would Be Step Up for Smoggy Delhi. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe

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