Iran: Parliament To Pass Bill On Dust Particles
The Iran Environment Organization announced that it is preparing a proposal for Parliament to deal with the problem of dust particles in Iranian cities.
ISNA reports that Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh said on Sunday August 5 that the proposal to counter dust particles will soon be presented to Parliament.
“There are action plans: one deals with the control of dust particles within the country and the second refers to a regional agreement with Iraq and other countries,” Mohammadizadeh stated.
He described a joint investment by Iran and Iraq aimed at implementing a plan that involves “500 hectares of land in Iraq.”
The head of Iran’s Parliament, Ali Larijani, emphasized that 70 percent of the dust particles plaguing Iran originate in Iraq, but so far no significant action has been taken to stop them at the source.
Ali Mohammad Ahmadi, another MP, declared that in recent years, 20 provinces have been affected by dust particles, and there is growing evidence of their impact on a wide range of health conditions, from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases to allergies.
MP Sharif Hosseiny of Ahvaz, the capital of the province worst affected by dust storms, said the destruction and pollution of wetlands, the unregulated transfer of water from rivers and the rapid drying of Lake Oroumiyeh have all contributed to the environmental problems facing the country.
“Every year, 19,000 people fall victim to diseases caused by dust particles, and 5,000 of them are in Khuzestan,” the Ahvaz MP reported.
