New Delhi: Slamming India’s poor air quality, American entrepreneur Bryan Johnson took to X to describe his experience in the country, saying the high AQI in Mumbai caused him to break out in a rash and left a burning sensation in his eyes and throat.
Appearing on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s podcast WTF, Johnson said he decided to leave the interview early because despite being indoors and wearing a mask, the pollution was very high.
“Inside, the AQI was 130 and PM2.5 was 75 µg/m³, which is equal to smoking 3.4 cigarettes for 24 hours of exposure,” said Johnson on X. “This was my third day in India and the air pollution had made my skin break out in a rash and my eyes and throat burn.”
Johnson, who is the founder and CEO of Kernel—a start-up focusing on neuroimaging technology—is widely known for his anti-aging philosophy wherein he employs special diets and experiments with injecting his son’s blood plasma into his body. He was in India to record an episode for Kamath’s podcast, where he gets three to four guests together to discuss a popular topic.
According to Johnson’s X post on 3 February, he had brought an air purifier with him to the room where the podcast was shot in Mumbai. However, since the place was circulating air from outside, his air purifier wasn’t as effective. He is seen wearing a mask throughout the podcast episode.
The episode, which aired on YouTube on 2 February, was regarding the health and wellness industry and “longevity”, and Johnson was joined by Prashant Prakash of Accel India, Jitendra Chouksey of FITTR, as well as Nithin Kamath, Nikhil’s brother and founder of Rainmatter. At about the 1:30 minute mark of the almost 3-and-a-half-hour-long episode, Johnson was seen exiting.
Later on X, Johnson called out how “normalised” air pollution had become in India, to the point that people don’t seem to notice it anymore. He was “confused” by how people didn’t wear masks in India, and why Indian leaders don’t declare it a national emergency.
Johnson’s post received over 3.2 million views and 23,000+ likes, with many Indians in the responses thanking him for raising these concerns on a global scale, documenting their own experiences with poor AQI. Some others, however, responded by suggesting the podcast should have been held in better places with cleaner air quality, pointing out how all of India doesn’t suffer from air pollution.
Johnson also added that when he came back to the US after his India trip, he realised that he had been blind to the “obesity” problem in America, and wondered similarly about why US leaders aren’t declaring it a national emergency.
“Bryan Johnson’s experience reflects the daily reality for millions in India. Air pollution has been normalised, not due to indifference, but due to slow systemic action and weak accountability. While policies like NCAP exist, enforcement must be strengthened,” said Sunil Dahiya, Founder and Lead Analyst at EnviroCatalysts, an environment think-tank, to ThePrint.
Jyoti Pande Lavakare, founder of Delhi-based NGO CareforAir, adds that India has not only normalised air pollution “but also politicised it”.
It’s time we stopped this nonsense and just cleaned our toxic air. Other countries have done it, it’s not rocket science. And if India can send a successful mission to the moon, surely, we can solve this ‘wicked’ problem. Thank you Mr Johnson, and we beseech others with loud voices to amplify this problem before we are literally gassed to death in our own country,” she added, speaking to ThePrint.
Kamath’s WTF podcast
Nithin Kamath said on X on 4 February, that after meeting Johnson he realised Delhi wasn’t the only place in India to have an AQI problem. The AQI inside the Bandra apartment where the episode was recorded was over 160, he said, adding it would be worse in other parts of the city. He invited entrepreneurs and researchers working on the air pollution issue to reach out to his organisation Rainmatter to collaborate.
“I’m actually surprised the AQI affected him that much, but I am cognizant of how different AQIs affect different people,” Nikhil Kamath is heard saying in the episode after Johnson leaves. “But given he is possibly used to less than 10 AQI, it would be a lot for him.”
Prashanth Prakash jumped in with statistics about how prolonged periods of exposure to AQI above 100 would affect humans.
“I’m just being objective, but living at 100 AQI for long periods of time is not good. So, as cities we have to do something to fix this. It’s a problem on multiple dimensions,” Prakash said.
On 4 February, Johnson again posted on X, this time referencing a study that showed how “there is no safe amount of PM2.5”. The study said that air pollution has been linked to systemic lung, liver and respiratory systems damage.
“Indians are justifiably outraged by the poor air quality they are exposed to daily. It creates serious negative health effects,” Johnson’s post said. Agreeing with Johnson, Dahiya told ThePrint that air pollution is a public health crisis “demanding an emergency level response”.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Bengaluru, known for moderate AQI, saw bigger PM2.5 spike than Delhi on New Year—study by start-up
Sample these – “anti-ageing philosophy”, “injects son’s blood plasma”. This guy is a mad man. Why would this Zerodha idiot invite such a douchebag for an interview?
The Kamath brothers are both idiots who somehow ended up making money. And now they do a stupid podcast where they invite all kinds of obnoxious people.
The best way to deal with such idiots is to unfollow them and not watch their content.