Delhi's Air is totally toxic
Sources from New Delhi have stated that a study has found that the ultrafine particulates in Delhi's air, mainly PM2.5 and PM10, are made of relatively less harmful chemical components. Recently Scientist Gufran Beig, project director of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) that undertook the study last December, told that the chemical characterization of particulates i.e. what they are made of chemically, primarily decides the toxicity of air.
According to a SAFAR analysis, in Delhi, around 7.6% of the particulates are made of black carbon (BC). Sulphate (SO4) particles stand at around 7%, the larger presence of which would have heightened the toxicity of Delhi's air.
Currently Delhi had experienced a severe episode of smog last November when the Diwali fireworks had pushed pollution to an alarming level and during that period, or in case of the episode of biomass burning, the air was likely to have been highly toxic due to a deadly cocktail of harmful respirable pollutants and gases, which bursting of firecrackers produce.