Video - Mexico City Residents Losing Sense of Smell
Mexico, Mexico City, Ozone, Particulate Matter, People, Pollution, Public Health, Social Impact, Sustainable Transport, Urbanization, Video Add comments
People In Mexico City Losing Their Sense of Smell. Produced by theEMBARQ Network on Vimeo.
Rhys Thom and I recently visited Mexico City where we met with two researchers at UNAM - Mexico’s National University - who are doing some fascinating research. Robyn Hudson, a charismatic professor, originally from Australia who has been living in Mexico City for quite some time, and her colleague Marco Guarneros, a fellow biomedical researcher, conducted a study comparing the ability of Mexico City’s residents to detect certain smells, with the ability of people living in a Tlaxcala, a neighboring town. Mexico City and Tlaxcala are similar in many respects - they share a similar culture and climate, situated high in the mountains of Mexico. But there is one crucial difference: Mexico City has much higher levels of air pollution.
When compared to their neighbors, people living in Mexico City need higher concentrations of a smell in order to identify it, a clear indication that their sense of smell is deteriorating.
Watch the movie to learn more.
Below are a few pictures we took while making the movie.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
[...] This stinks. Robyn Hudson, a charismatic professor, originally from Australia who has been living in Mexico City for quite some time, and her colleague Marco, a fellow biomedical researcher, conducted a study comparing the ability of Mexico City’s residents to detect certain smells, with the ability of people living in a Tlaxcala, a neighboring town. Mexico City and Tlaxcala are similar in many respects - they share a similar culture and climate, situated high in the mountains of Mexico. But there is one crucial difference: Mexico City has much higher levels of air pollution. [...]
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I have lost my sense of smell since I was 5 years old
and now I am 45 years of age my mother said it happened when I was five years old. That I hit my head on something I can see smoke I can see fire I can see mold but I cannot see poison in the air. Dr. said it was permanent.