The smog season
December 11, 2020
Smog is back, in parts of Sindh and almost all of Punjab. Smog causes ENT sicknesses, can worsen existing heart and lung problems and causes eye irritation. It also leads to traffic difficulties.
There are three causes of smog: traffic, industries and agro-waste and municipal waste burning. Of agro-waste, rice stubble burning is a major issue which we will discuss later in detail. On the traffic issue, the government has taken a major step of converting to EURO-V petrol and diesel. EURO-V is a low sulfur fuel. However, sulfur-based Sox is only part of the problem. Smog is caused by NOx which requires Catalytic Converters (CC) fitted in vehicle engines to absorb or neutralize it.