To clear the way for planting wheat in November, a farmer in Punjab, India, sets aflame the leftover straw, or stubble, of a harvested rice paddy crop in October. The burning residue fills the air with carbon monoxide, ozone, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that will make it harder to breathe for days afterward and for miles around. It’s a scene that’s replicated on about 2 million farms in the Punjab and Haryana states of northwest India every autumn (and every spring after the wheat harvest), raising health risks—particularly of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases—and premature death rates downwind in India and throughout South Asia.
Click here for original story, A targeted approach to reducing the health impacts of crop residue burning in India
Source: Phys.org