From blaring car horns to wedding parties, rising noise pollution in the 24-hour metropolis of Cairo has reached alarming levels, leading to hearing problems, irritability and even death.
Living in the city center, where noise levels reach an average of 90 decibels (dB) and never drop below 70dB, is like spending all day inside a factory, a study by the Egyptian National Research Center (NRC) last year said.
"What's striking about Cairo is that noise levels on different streets at different times of day are well over limits set by the environmental protection agency [EPA]," the NRC's Mustafa Ali Shafiye said.
PHOTO: AFP
"In downtown, noise levels may attain 90dB at 7:30am, bearing in mind that the normally acceptable level set by the EPA is 35-55 dB," he said.
In December, the respected New Scientist magazine said that "noise kills in much the same way as chronic stress does."
It causes "an accumulation of stress hormones, inflammation and changes in body chemistry that eventually lead to problems such as impaired blood circulation and heart attacks," the magazine said.
Mohammed el-Shazly, an ear specialist at Cairo University, said: "The noise in Cairo is exceptional -- it cannot be compared to any other Arab city."
"What is special about Cairo is that industrial zones and residential areas are not separated. People like policemen who are permanently on the street can be severely affected," he said.
People start to lose their hearing gradually, he said, and once that happens the only cure is to get a hearing aid.
"Car horns, loud music, shouting, aging engines and the occasional party can lead to a series of health problems including hypertension, hearing loss, cardiovascular effects and general irritability" said Nagat Amer, an environmental health specialist at the NRC.
"Noise severely affects pregnant women who are permanently exposed to it. It causes retraction in blood vessels and they give birth to small babies," she said.
"The cost of this is enormous: We can count non-concentration at work, absenteeism, accidents, handicaps," she said. "Protecting ourselves from noise is much less expensive than what it may cost later."
The WHO, which considers noise pollution to be the world's third-worst after polluted air and water, has said that exposure for more than eight hours a day to sound in excess of 85db is potentially hazardous.
The ministries of health and environment are planning to establish a national network for monitoring noise levels in Egypt, but no date has yet been fixed for it to begin gathering data.
A 1994 law laying down legal ambient noise limits is largely ignored. Under this law, levels should not exceed 52db during the day, 37db at night and a very loud 90db in industrial areas such as factories.
With Cairo's population continually expanding and no official solution within earshot, tens of thousands of people are fleeing to quieter and less-polluted suburbs.
"I used to hear car horns, shops opening and closing, people shouting," said Dina Kozman, a housewife who left the city center three years ago for a residential compound. "Traffic makes noise and noise makes stress. It's a vicious circle."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of