With so many different air “purifiers” available for a vast range of prices, it may be difficult to decipher what is worthwhile and what is, well, worthless. It can be tempting to settle for an inexpensive air purifier, especially when it is promoted with jargon and promises.

Hanoi has seen air quality improve over the past year but it remains one of Southeast Asia’s most polluted cities.

The city’s average PM2.5 level last year was 40.8 micrograms per cubic meter of air as opposed to 45.8 in 2017, according to Switzerland-based air quality monitor IQAir AirVisual's 2018 World Air Quality Report.

Hanoi stood second in Southeast Asia in terms of air pollution just behind Jakarta, according to a 2018 World Air Quality Report jointly conducted by Greenpeace and IQAir AirVisual.

The report was made following data from dozens of air quality monitoring stations across the world.

The report showed that up to 99% of South Asian cities; 95% of Southeast Asian cities and 89% of those in East Asia surpassed the allowed PM2.5 level.

Goldach, Switzerland 5 March 2019 -- Air pollution will take an estimated seven million lives globally in the next year, while costing the world’s economy nearly 225 billion USD.^1,2 The latest data compiled in the World’s Most Polluted Cities ranking, reveals the state of particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution in 2018. It highlights a widespread but unequal distribution of PM2.5 pollution and limited access to public information.

Another reason for including asthma on the list of potential health risks posed by secondhand tobacco smoke, especially for non-smokers, has been uncovered. Furthermore, the practice of using ozone to remove the smell of tobacco smoke from indoor environments, including hotel rooms and the interiors of vehicles, is probably a bad idea.

Scientists called study’s findings upsetting and said toxic air must be cut.

Air pollution is as bad for pregnant women as smoking in raising the risk of miscarriage, according to a scientific study. They said the finding was upsetting and that toxic air must be cut to protect the health of the next generation.

Air pollution is already known to harm foetuses by increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. Recent research has also found pollution particles in placentas.

Report says air pollution is having a devastating impact on children worldwide, storing up a public health time bomb

Poisonous air is having a devastating impact on billions of children around the world, damaging their intelligence and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

The study found that more than 90% of the world’s young people – 1.8 billion children – are breathing toxic air, storing up a public health time bomb for the next generation.

New research shows direct evidence that toxic air – already strongly linked to harm in unborn babies – travels through mothers’ bodies.

Scientists have found the first evidence that particles of air pollution travel through pregnant women’s lungs and lodge in their placentas.

Toxic air is already strongly linked to harm in foetuses but how the damage is done is unknown. The new study, involving mothers living in London, UK, revealed sooty particles in the placentas of each of their babies and researchers say it is quite possible the particles entered the foetuses too.

Chronic exposure to air pollution could be linked to cognitive performance, a new study in China suggests.

Researchers believe that the negative impact increases with age, and affects men with less education the worst.

Over four years, the maths and verbal skills of some 20,000 people in China were monitored by the US-Chinese study.

Researchers believe the results have global relevance, with more than 80% of the world's urban population breathing unsafe levels of air pollution.