New Delhi: In an unprecedented nationwide appeal, over 80 Padma awardee doctors warned that India's air pollution crisis has escalated into a full-blown public health emergency, causing widespread disease, genetic harm and nearly 1.7 million deaths every year.
Calling the situation "medically unacceptable," some of the country's top physicians said toxic air is now claiming lives on a scale the health system can no longer absorb.
Over one-third of respiratory deaths and 40% of stroke deaths in India are linked to long-term exposure to polluted air, they said. Nearly 400,000 child deaths each year are now associated with toxic air. PM2.5 levels in north India routinely reach 20–40 times the WHO safe limit, leaving almost 70% of Indians inhaling hazardous air daily, their warning added.
These figures are drawn from multiple peer-reviewed studies, including the Global Burden of Disease assessments, WHO and UNICEF estimates, Lancet analyses, and emerging international research on airborne microplastics. Mounting evidence shows that microplastics and nanoplastics — now detected in polluted ambient air, especially near traffic corridors — are entering the lungs and bloodstream.
Prof Dr Sanjeev Bagai, Padma Shri, said global research confirms these particles "are now reaching vital organs, including the brain, heart, placenta, and even breast milk." He warned that microplastics are "a multi-system health threat already inside the human body," linked to inflammation, hormonal disruption, and increased risk of cancer, diabetes, infertility, heart attacks and strokes.
"The air pollution crisis is no longer environmental. It is a direct threat to the lungs, heart and metabolic health of millions," said Padma Shri Dr Anoop Misra, chairman of Fortis C-DOC. "We are seeing a surge in asthma, heart attacks, strokes and uncontrolled diabetes. Clean air is as essential, if not more essential, than clean water."
Experts said urgent, coordinated action is needed across states. "Measurement is the key to management," said Dr Kameshwar Prasad, head of neurology, Fortis Vasant Kunj. "We need more high-quality monitoring stations, especially in high-risk areas like NCR. Without strong surveillance, we cannot control what we cannot measure."
The advisory by the doctors details how toxic air harms the body. They said that India is silently accumulating a future epidemic of chronic disease.
It also outlines practical steps for households: N95 masks outdoors, HEPA purifiers where feasible, wet-mopping instead of sweeping, avoiding incense and mosquito coils, improving kitchen ventilation, and limiting outdoor time for children on high-AQI days. "If we don't act now, India faces a wave of respiratory illness and lifestyle diseases in the coming decades," said Dr Harsh Mahajan, founder and MD, Mahajan Imaging.
The doctors called for emergency-level measures — stricter air-quality thresholds, declaring severe pollution days as health emergencies, controlling construction dust and industrial emissions, phasing out old diesel vehicles, and expanding electric public transport. They also urged a national microplastics monitoring programme.
Experts stressed that the crisis cannot be solved without systemic reform and political will. Clean air, they said, must be recognised as a basic human right, and without coordinated national action, India risks irreversible, generational health damage.
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