Delhi ‘lungs’ turn sickly brown in days

NEW DELHI: A pair of artificial lungs put up in New Delhi to demonstrate the lethal effects of smog have turned a sickly dark brown within 10 days of their installation, underscoring the city’s pollution crisis.

Delhi, the world’s most polluted major city, has been covered in a toxic grey haze since the onset of winter last month, with pollution levels several times higher than the World Health Organisation’s safe limits.

The oversized lungs, put up on November 3 on the premises of the Sir Ganga Ram hospital and white at first, had been fitted with high-powered particle-trapping filters to mimic the way a human body functions.

"The most striking bit is the rapidity with which the lungs have turned black. It is absolutely frightening," said Arvind Kumar, a lung surgeon who has been campaigning to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution. As cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, levels of PM2.5 -- particles so tiny they can enter the lungs and bloodstream -- have soared dangerously.