RUSSIA: Moscow commuters went to work yesterday digesting the news that riding the metro is bad for your health.
A government survey has announced that the subway system - the world's largest - has nearly 1.5 times the maximum safe level of carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases.
For commuters, the news is a fresh burden as they endure being crammed like sardines into the noisy, sweaty carriages each morning.
"Hell, that's the only way to describe it," says Anja Shapakova, a journalist at Moscow style magazine Afisha.
"When I go down the stairs at Biblioteka Lenina station each morning, I can see the dust cloud floating down there, waiting to meet me."
The survey by the Health and Social Development Ministry paints a grim picture for the metro's seven million passengers who use it each day.
Levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and a host more oxides are 1.4 times the maximum permitted level.
The problem is with a ventilation system unchanged since the metro was begun in the 1930s. Simple shafts connect the tunnels with the world above. Air is brought down to the tunnels by the simple action of the trains which act like bellows.
And as the capital fills up with Soviet-era cars and trucks, the streets fill with fumes.
The survey also found that the mountains of dirt that have been allowed to accumulate for decades have produced levels of dust in the air 1.2 times above the maximum safe limit.
This is not news to Shapakova. "There's so much dust down there, it never gets clean. They could try. Just to clean it with water would make a difference," she says.
This news is a far cry from the spirit of triumph that greeted the opening of the metro system.
In the 1930s Stalin ordered the metro built to show off the technological prowess of the Communist system. The result was a collection of ornate stations. Some look like the inside of palaces, others sport stunning mosaics showing Soviet soldiers, peasants and workers striking heroic poses.
"Is there any metro as magnificent as Moscow? I don't think so," says British journalist Clem Cecil, who is writing a history of the Russian capital. "It's just an incredible piece of art."
She says the metro cannot be blamed for the mess, because it is already coping with more than twice the demand it was designed for.
"The system was built for a city of five million, now it's 12," says Cecil. "The population has boomed, and the metro can't take any more."
But the city is unlikely to fix the problem with air filters or new shafts. Russia's infrastructure is crumbling, investment is minimal and last month the power system crashed because ancient switching stations could not cope with surging demand.
For tourists the advice is simple: when going into Moscow's metro, focus not on the crowds but on the magnificent interiors - and remember to take a deep breath.