The controversy began on Sunday, when the Swiss real-time air quality website IQAir labelled Milan "unhealthy" as the level of fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, in the city's air was 24 times above the limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), ranking the city third after Dhaka in Bangladesh and Lahore in Pakistan.
The densely populated industrial hub crept up to second place on Monday, after Chengdu in China, before slipping to 10th yesterday. According to IQAir's website, its data is gathered from "governmental stations and low-cost sensors owned by citizen scientists around the world".
The Milan mayor, Giuseppe Sala, who has introduced some bold antipollution measures since being elected in 2016, has dismissed the IQAir data as "the usual impromptu analyses made by a private body" and accused journalists of reporting from "social media".
"I'm really annoyed at having to ask questions that don't exist," he said on Monday.
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