A doctor checks a girl’s ear at HCMC Children’s Hospital No.1. City health experts have warned about the severe impacts of too much dust and sound on children’s health.

Workers and children are more vulnerable to severe health conditions due to air and noise pollution at workplaces in large cities and industrial hubs, doctors said.

Smoke and dust from factories and vehicles have carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide containing tiny particles that can go through the nostril hairs into the system, Tuan said.

“Air pollution has raised the number of children with acute respiratory conditions such as sore throat, rhinitis, sinusitis and even pneumonia,” he said.

Many children have suffered allergic rhinitis and asthma, he said, and they will have to live with those conditions for the rest of their lives if the air pollution persists.

Doctor Pham Thanh Son of the ENT Department of Phuong Dong Hospital in the city said polluted air also damages the sense of smell, causing tenseness and headaches.

Doctor Tran Van Ky from the Vietnam Association of Food Science and Technology said fruits and animals these days are easily contaminated with lead, mercury and arsenic discharged from factories.

As people eat tainted cookings over a long period of time, the toxics will pile up in their body and develop chronic diseases such as anemia, depression and possibly cancer, said Ky who is in charge of food hygiene and safety in the south.

“In order to have safe food, you must have untainted soil, air and water,” he said.

In addition, noisy streets and workplaces are cause deafness, tiredness and stress.

Do Hong Giang, doctor at the Audiology Department of HCMC ENT Hospital, told Thanh Nien in a recent interview that noise louder than 85 decibel adversely affects hearing.

People who are exposed to noise louder than 85dB two hours every day will suffer hearing impairment after two years.

Giang said the noise in HCMC streets is usually 85dB or louder, so traffic police, street vendors, people living on the main streets and those traveling frequently will suffer the most.

Doctor Tran Quoc Hung from the HCMC Center for Labor Health and Environment Protection added that noise at the workplace can cause tinnitus, dizziness and loss of balance that lead to working accidents.

They also cause loss of appetite, sleep trouble, weight loss, high blood pressure, poor eyesight and more severely, mental disorder.

Reported by Thanh Tung