Mounting economic costs of India’s killer smog

Noxious smog smothering the plains of northern India is not only choking the lungs of residents and killing millions, but also slowing the country’s economic growth.

New Delhi, India’s capital, frequently ranks among the world’s most polluted cities. Each winter, vehicle and factory emissions couple with farm fires from surrounding states to blanket the city in a dystopian haze.

Acrid smog this month contains more than 50 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit of fine particulate matter — dangerous cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants — that enter the bloodstream through the lungs.