Alert Mexico
Mexico is a country that does not believe in resting on its laurels. This is the first year in the past decade that Mexico city did not experience a smog alert. But that did not stop Mexico City's environment secretary, Aaron Mastache, to lower the threshold for smog alerts and make them even more stringent. A smog alert is declared in Mexico city when pollutants like ozone reaches 2.4 times the standard or when particulate matter of the size less than 10 microns (PM10) reaches the 1.75 standard.
Tougher vehicle inspection systems and standards, driving bans and engine improvements seem to be the steps that have got the city authorities to combat the menace. "After a year without a smog alert, I think we can take some steps forward,' said Mastache. But all this has also been aided by unusually strong winds that have temporarily blown some smog out of the valley. Once considered one of the world's most polluted cities, Mexico City has probably been surpassed in smog by Beijing, New Delhi and others.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recent study suggested that Mexico City's air pollution plays a role in thousands of deaths every year, and pointed to a new villain
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