Role of Agriculture and Biotechnology to Eliminate Smog.
Written By ‘’ Javaria Tabusam’’ Department of CABB,UAF.
Word ‘’Smog’’ was used in 20th century 1st time. Actually it is a term which is mixture of fog and smoke. Fog along with the toxic compounds such as Nitrogen Oxide, Sulphur Oxide and Ozone is coined as Smog. Now a days ,Vehicles, Industries, forest fires and photochemical reactions are main source of the smog. Now a days smog is a main health damage issue in Pakistan. Smog covers the two main cities of Pakistan (Lahore and Faisalabad) every year and ration of pollutants is increasing year by year. According to a World Health Organization, it is estimated that almost 60,000 Pakistanis died from the high level of fine particles in the air. Initially it was a problem of Developing Countries such as California, China and Japan are on the top of the list.
Most common health problems are respiratory and heath problems in adults and in children it leads to the pneumonia and asthma ultimately leads to the death. Smog also contains the carcinogenic elements and leads to serious cancerous diseases. Now there is need to create awareness in public and also need for concerning departments to step forward and play their role to save country and nation.According to a report Punjab Environment Protection Department is need prepare to handle any senstive conditions to save environment due to the lack of resources.According to the Labs director Tauqeer Ahmed Qureshi “We have limited finance and human resources,” he admits. “Our last tender for the instruments was for Rs40 million per machine, while maintenance would cost Rs5 million every year per station.”
Here is need of Agricultural Sector to step forward for their contribution.11 plants are listed which are important to eliminate the pollution and smog from the air and these are Areca Palm, Money Plant, Spider Plant, Purple Waffle Plant, Bamboo Palm, Variegated Wax Plant, Lily turf, Boston Fern, Dwarf Date Palm, Moth Orchids and Barberton Daisy. These plant should be grow more and more to reduce the pollution and create awareness in people to grow these plants in their home, gardens and offices.
Biotechnology can play a major role for the environment safety. Bioremediation is an important method to reduce pollutants from the air. It is the use of the microorganisms to eliminate the pollution from the environment. Bioadsorption is also a new process in which bioadsorbers are being made from the renewable materials and work as eliminator of toxic heavy metals. Genetically engineered grasses and trees may be a excellent source of pollution removal. Phytoremediation is the process in which plants are engineered in such a way that they become capable to absorb the toxic metals and other pollutants and convert them into the harmless compounds. Now there is need of biotechnologists and other scientists to start work on this issue and play an remarkable role to save the air and to save the life.
