Nutriovia

What is the air quality in New Delhi, Jakarta or Buenos Aires? Until Tuesday, the United States Embassy in these cities could have told you.

But the Trump administration has actually closed a global air quality monitoring program, ending more than a decade of public data collection and 80 embassies and consulates worldwide.

The information supported research, helped thousands of agents from external services to work abroad to decide if it was sure to let their children play outside, and directly led to air quality improvements in countries like China.

The State Department declared in an email that the program was suspended “due to budgetary constraints”.

Health managers and environmental experts said that the end of air quality surveillance would harm Americans abroad, especially those working for the US government.

“The embassies are sometimes located in very difficult air quality circumstances,” said Gina McCarthy, who directed the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration.

She, with John Kerry, who was Secretary of State at the time, widened on a global scale which had been an effort to monitor limited but transformational air in China.

“You cannot send people to risky areas without information,” said McCarthy. “We generally consider risky areas as war areas or something like that. But it is just as important to see if their health is deteriorating because they are in a place with such a bad air quality. »»

In 2008, the American officials of Beijing installed air quality monitors on the roof of the American embassy and finally began to publish data every hour on the levels of one of the most dangerous air pollutants, of tiny particles known as PM 2.5. The particles can enter into the lungs and blood circulation and have been linked to respiratory problems, heart attacks and other serious health effects.

The information revealed what local residents already knew: that pollution was much worse than the Chinese government would not recognize.

“All hell has detached,” recalls Ms. McCarthy. The Chinese government has tried without success to put pressure on the American Embassy to stop making public data, qualifying illegal readings and attacking the quality of science, said and others.

In the end, Chinese officials sold. They set up their own surveillance system, increased the pollution control budget and finally started to collaborate with the United States on air quality projects.

In 2015, Ms. McCarthy and Mr. Kerry announced that they would expand air surveillance in American diplomatic missions, arguing that air pollution, such as climate change, required global data and solutions.

A 2022 study Published in the acts of the National Academy of Sciences noted that when the American embassies began to follow local air pollution, the host countries have taken measures. The study revealed that, since 2008, there had been substantial reductions in the levels of concentration in fine particles in cities with an American instructor, resulting in the risk of premature death for more than 300 million people.

Dan Westervelt, a research professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said that many countries had no surveillance in public air quality and that embassies data provided reliable information to researchers.

Dr. Westervelt said he had worked on a project through the State Department using embassies air quality in five West African countries, but received a stop prescription when President Trump took office in January.

“In my opinion, it endangers the health of external services agents,” he said. “But they also hinder potential research and policy.”

The data had appeared on AirA website managed by EPA and the State Department, as well as on Zephair, a mobile application managed by the State Department. Tuesday, the website was offline and no data was presented on the application.

The State Department said that air monitors in the embassies would continue to operate for an indefinite period but would not send live data on the application or in other platforms “if / until the financing of the underlying network is resolved”.

Embassies and other messages could recover historical data until the month of the end of the month, according to an internal email targeted by the New York Times.

What is the air quality in New Delhi, Jakarta or Buenos Aires? Until Tuesday, the United States Embassy in these cities could have told you.

But the Trump administration has actually closed a global air quality monitoring program, ending more than a decade of public data collection and 80 embassies and consulates worldwide.

The information supported research, helped thousands of agents from external services to work abroad to decide if it was sure to let their children play outside, and directly led to air quality improvements in countries like China.

The State Department declared in an email that the program was suspended “due to budgetary constraints”.

Health managers and environmental experts said that the end of air quality surveillance would harm Americans abroad, especially those working for the US government.

“The embassies are sometimes located in very difficult air quality circumstances,” said Gina McCarthy, who directed the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration.

She, with John Kerry, who was Secretary of State at the time, widened on a global scale which had been an effort to monitor limited but transformational air in China.

“You cannot send people to risky areas without information,” said McCarthy. “We generally consider risky areas as war areas or something like that. But it is just as important to see if their health is deteriorating because they are in a place with such a bad air quality. »»

In 2008, the American officials of Beijing installed air quality monitors on the roof of the American embassy and finally began to publish data every hour on the levels of one of the most dangerous air pollutants, of tiny particles known as PM 2.5. The particles can enter into the lungs and blood circulation and have been linked to respiratory problems, heart attacks and other serious health effects.

The information revealed what local residents already knew: that pollution was much worse than the Chinese government would not recognize.

“All hell has detached,” recalls Ms. McCarthy. The Chinese government has tried without success to put pressure on the American Embassy to stop making public data, qualifying illegal readings and attacking the quality of science, said and others.

In the end, Chinese officials sold. They set up their own surveillance system, increased the pollution control budget and finally started to collaborate with the United States on air quality projects.

In 2015, Ms. McCarthy and Mr. Kerry announced that they would expand air surveillance in American diplomatic missions, arguing that air pollution, such as climate change, required global data and solutions.

A 2022 study Published in the acts of the National Academy of Sciences noted that when the American embassies began to follow local air pollution, the host countries have taken measures. The study revealed that, since 2008, there had been substantial reductions in the levels of concentration in fine particles in cities with an American instructor, resulting in the risk of premature death for more than 300 million people.

Dan Westervelt, a research professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said that many countries had no surveillance in public air quality and that embassies data provided reliable information to researchers.

Dr. Westervelt said he had worked on a project through the State Department using embassies air quality in five West African countries, but received a stop prescription when President Trump took office in January.

“In my opinion, it endangers the health of external services agents,” he said. “But they also hinder potential research and policy.”

The data had appeared on AirA website managed by EPA and the State Department, as well as on Zephair, a mobile application managed by the State Department. Tuesday, the website was offline and no data was presented on the application.

The State Department said that air monitors in the embassies would continue to operate for an indefinite period but would not send live data on the application or in other platforms “if / until the financing of the underlying network is resolved”.

Embassies and other messages could recover historical data until the month of the end of the month, according to an internal email targeted by the New York Times.

What is the air quality in New Delhi, Jakarta or Buenos Aires? Until Tuesday, the United States Embassy in these cities could have told you.

But the Trump administration has actually closed a global air quality monitoring program, ending more than a decade of public data collection and 80 embassies and consulates worldwide.

The information supported research, helped thousands of agents from external services to work abroad to decide if it was sure to let their children play outside, and directly led to air quality improvements in countries like China.

The State Department declared in an email that the program was suspended “due to budgetary constraints”.

Health managers and environmental experts said that the end of air quality surveillance would harm Americans abroad, especially those working for the US government.

“The embassies are sometimes located in very difficult air quality circumstances,” said Gina McCarthy, who directed the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration.

She, with John Kerry, who was Secretary of State at the time, widened on a global scale which had been an effort to monitor limited but transformational air in China.

“You cannot send people to risky areas without information,” said McCarthy. “We generally consider risky areas as war areas or something like that. But it is just as important to see if their health is deteriorating because they are in a place with such a bad air quality. »»

In 2008, the American officials of Beijing installed air quality monitors on the roof of the American embassy and finally began to publish data every hour on the levels of one of the most dangerous air pollutants, of tiny particles known as PM 2.5. The particles can enter into the lungs and blood circulation and have been linked to respiratory problems, heart attacks and other serious health effects.

The information revealed what local residents already knew: that pollution was much worse than the Chinese government would not recognize.

“All hell has detached,” recalls Ms. McCarthy. The Chinese government has tried without success to put pressure on the American Embassy to stop making public data, qualifying illegal readings and attacking the quality of science, said and others.

In the end, Chinese officials sold. They set up their own surveillance system, increased the pollution control budget and finally started to collaborate with the United States on air quality projects.

In 2015, Ms. McCarthy and Mr. Kerry announced that they would expand air surveillance in American diplomatic missions, arguing that air pollution, such as climate change, required global data and solutions.

A 2022 study Published in the acts of the National Academy of Sciences noted that when the American embassies began to follow local air pollution, the host countries have taken measures. The study revealed that, since 2008, there had been substantial reductions in the levels of concentration in fine particles in cities with an American instructor, resulting in the risk of premature death for more than 300 million people.

Dan Westervelt, a research professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said that many countries had no surveillance in public air quality and that embassies data provided reliable information to researchers.

Dr. Westervelt said he had worked on a project through the State Department using embassies air quality in five West African countries, but received a stop prescription when President Trump took office in January.

“In my opinion, it endangers the health of external services agents,” he said. “But they also hinder potential research and policy.”

The data had appeared on AirA website managed by EPA and the State Department, as well as on Zephair, a mobile application managed by the State Department. Tuesday, the website was offline and no data was presented on the application.

The State Department said that air monitors in the embassies would continue to operate for an indefinite period but would not send live data on the application or in other platforms “if / until the financing of the underlying network is resolved”.

Embassies and other messages could recover historical data until the month of the end of the month, according to an internal email targeted by the New York Times.