Headline March 24, 2018/ '' 'TOXIC TERRIBLY-AFRAID TEARS' ''

'' 'TOXIC TERRIBLY-AFRAID TEARS' ''

ON PROUD PAKISTAN DAY, it is a great honour to reciprocate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's  good wishes for the people of Pakistan.

And it is an equally great honour to extend to Prime Minister Modi and the people of India : Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of India to visit and tour Pakistan.

AS MUCH OF ASIA WHEEZES, coughs and sniffles its way through another smog season, one isolated and windswept corner of Australia is serving as the global standard for clean air.

With panoramic view of swaying tussock grass and the vast crystalline expanse of Southern Ocean, Tasmania's beautiful Cape Grim peninsula is an unlikely reference point for the scientific world.

But since 1978, this wild and blustery spot has been home to the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station - a small Australian government facility with the seeming eccentric task of bottling air.

''Our job is essentially to find air as clean as you're likely to find anywhere in the world and measure just how polluted it is,'' Sam Cleland the officer in charge of the station, told AFP.

Looking out from his office atop the high sea cliffs, the nearest landmass to the west is Argentina, and there is nothing to the south except Antarctica.

The facility's isolated location makes it perfect for collecting what many have dubbed the cleanest  air in the world - what air would be like without choking exhaust fumes or industrial smoke.

When the wind blows from the  southwest, Cleland and his team capture a sample using finely tuned instruments.

Their kit is so sensitive that delivery trucks chugging down the dirt track from the nearest town - an hour away - are all logged, in case they potentially skew the readings.

BUT IN MONGOLIA toxic air tears apart families, with its coldest capital in the world.

The 35-year old mother of three struggled with the decision, even moving from one ger district to another in the hope that her son's health improve.

But successive bouts of illness, including bronchitis that lasted a whole year, finally convinced her to send Temuulen to his grandparents.

Hours after he arrived, she called her mother-in-law to discuss her son's medicines.

''But my mother-in-law asked me 'does he still need medicine? He isn't coughing anymore,'' she said.

''I tell myself that it doesn't matter that I miss him and who raises him, as long as he is healthy, I am content.''

Respiratory problems are the most obvious effect of air pollution, but research suggests dirty air can also put children at greater risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.

And the WHO links it to leukaemia and behavioural disorders.

When air pollution peaks in winter, Ulaanbaatar's playgrounds become empty and those who are able to are increasingly traveling abroad to wait out the smog.

In desperation, Luvsangombo Chinchuluun, a civil society activist borrowed money to take her grandaughter to Thailand for all of January.

''We can't let her play outside [Ulaanbaator] because of the air pollution, so we decided to leave,'' she said.

The persistent smog has causes tensions in the city, with those living in wealthier areas blaming the  ger residents for the pollution and even calling for the tent districts to be cleared.

But the ger residents say cost is all they can afford.

''People come to the capital because they used sustainable income,'' said Dorjidagya Adiyasuren, a 56-year old mother of six.
''It's not their fault,'' she added.

In a bid to tackle the problem, the local government banned domestic migration in 2017, and a ban on burning coal comes into force from May. But it is unclear whether the moves will be enough to make a difference.

For Naranchimeg, the problems are serious enough to make her consider whether she wants more children.

She explained : ''Now I am terribly afraid to give birth again. It is risky to carry a child and what will happen to the child after it is born in this amount of pollution.''

With most respectful dedication to the Leaders of Asia, Grandparents, Students, Professors and teachers, and then the world.

See Ya all prepare for Great Global  Elections and ''register'' on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter- E-!WOW! the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Life & Line '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless