Category Archives: Air Quality

From coal to cars, EU states fail to combat air pollution

Economic heavyweights France and Germany continue to violate limits of one of Europe’s most common urban pollutants, nitrogen oxides, despite their legal obligations to clean up the air. At the same time, France, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom have … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, Europe, France, Germany, UK | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Help us to tackle air pollution in your area

The air in your neighbourhood could be harming your health. You can take action now. To get you started, we’ve developed some resources which set out all the basic facts about air pollution in London and what you can do … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, London, UK | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Particulate matter emissions: Trimmers and chainsaws are worse than highway traffic

Motorway maintenance workers are exposed to various harmful emissions. Surprisingly, motorised hand-held tools such as strimmers (string trimmers) and chainsaws, rather than motorway traffic, are responsible for the highest emissions of particulate matter. These are the conclusions of a study … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Code Orange air pollution alert issued for Friday in New Jersey

A Code Orange air quality alert was issued for Friday for Hunterdon and all the other counties in New Jersey. It means that that air pollution concentrations in the region may reach the “unhealthy” level for certain groups of people, … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, USA & Canada | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Air pollution can worsen any pre-existing lung condition

High levels of air pollution can increase asthma, respiratory infections, lung cancer and even death, and heat makes it worse, a U.S. researcher says. Dr. Jonathan Weissler, director of the James M. Collins Center for Biomedical Research at the University … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, Health Effects of Air Pollution, USA & Canada | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Traffic air pollution turns good cholesterol bad

Exposure to diesel exhaust may render friendly, cholesterol-fighting molecules incapable of performing their important job. A new study suggests that the traffic air pollutant may prevent good cholesterol from battling the bad, artery-clogging cholesterol that promotes heart attack and stroke. … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, Health Effects of Air Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cheap coal ‘threatens UK pollution targets’

Coal on the global market is so cheap that it threatens government attempts to tackle climate change, the chairman of the Environment Agency has warned. Lord Smith says the UK’s share of electricity generated by coal is up to a … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, UK | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Exercise and Air Pollution

Just recently, the American Lung Association published its report on the latest measurements of soot particles and ozone in the air for almost 1,000 countries and cities in the United States. The results come as no surprise, especially for measurements … Continue reading

Posted in Air Quality, Cycling, Exercise & Air Pollution, Running, Sports | Tagged , | Leave a comment