{"id":34586,"date":"2025-02-28T09:07:59","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T16:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/?p=34586"},"modified":"2025-02-28T09:07:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T16:07:59","slug":"spotlight-on-lmics-the-invisible-threat-rethinking-air-pollution-in-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/2025\/02\/28\/spotlight-on-lmics-the-invisible-threat-rethinking-air-pollution-in-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on LMICs &#8211; The Invisible Threat: Rethinking Air Pollution in Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fine particulate matter (PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) is an air pollutant linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular conditions, and other adverse health effects. However, PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">concentration alone does not fully capture its toxicity. Dr. N\u00e9stor Y. Rojas et al.\u00a0explores\u00a0oxidative potential (OP)<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">as an alternative metric for air pollution exposure in\u00a0five major Colombian cities: Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Bogot\u00e1, Cali, and Medell\u00edn. OP reflects the ability of PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to generate\u00a0reactive oxygen species (ROS),\u00a0which contribute to oxidative stress and inflammation in human cells. Using the synthetic respiratory tract lining fluid assay that tracks the depletions of glutathione (OP<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">GSH<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) and ascorbate (OP<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">AA<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) the authors discerned:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">concentrations varied significantly between cities,\u00a0with the highest levels recorded in Cali and the lowest in Bogot\u00e1. Industrial sites had higher PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">concentrations, while background sites exhibited the lowest levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oxidative potential does not always correlate with PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mass concentrations.\u00a0Some cities, such as Medell\u00edn, had lower PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">levels but higher OP, suggesting that pollutant composition plays a crucial role in toxicity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Industrial sites exhibited the highest PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and OP<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">AA<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> values,\u00a0whereas OP<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">GSH<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was not found to differ among industrial, traffic, or residential sites, but was lower for background sites. These findings underscore the significant impact of emissions from transportation and industrial activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Comparisons with international studies\u00a0indicate that\u00a0Colombian cities have moderate OP levels\u00a0relative to Canadian, American, European, Asian and Latin American cities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The study highlights the\u00a0need for policies targeting emission sources\u00a0beyond simple PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reduction strategies. The authors provide a compelling case that traffic control, industrial regulations, and alternative energy sources could mitigate OP and improve air quality.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;34588&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1740758838900{padding-top: 50px !important;}&#8221;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1740758820670{padding-top: 50px !important;}&#8221;]<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Rojas is a part of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Global Research Network of Future Earth. His research interests lie in the area of air quality, including urban particulate matter, source apportionment, emission inventories and exposure measurements.\u00a0Dr. Rojas is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of Universidad Nacional de Colombia at Bogota. \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rojas, N.Y., Agudelo-Casta\u00f1eda, D.M., Bustos, D.\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">et al.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0(2025). Between and Within-City Variations of PM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2.5<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Oxidative Potential in Five Cities in Colombia.\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Air Qual Atmos Health.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a018, 127\u2013140. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11869-024-01632-0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11869-024-01632-0<\/span><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you have a recent publication within the Global South that you would like spotlighted? Share your publication with Makyba Charles-Ayinde at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"mailto:Makyba.charles-ayinde@futureearth.org\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Makyba.charles-ayinde@futureearth.org<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for a possible feature!<\/span><\/i>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an air pollutant linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular conditions, and other adverse health effects. However, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/2025\/02\/28\/spotlight-on-lmics-the-invisible-threat-rethinking-air-pollution-in-colombia\/\">READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":34590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1008,3798],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34586"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34591,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34586\/revisions\/34591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}