Excessive air pollution from South to North

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

South winds carried sand and dust from Sinai that covered most of the country; An Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Ben Gurion Airport had to turn back due to the unusual amount of dust in the air.

The smog that spread over Israel’s skies Sunday came from the Sinai Peninsula and is only growing heavier, causing heavy air pollution in most parts of the country and disruption of air traffic.

An Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Ben Gurion Airport turned around over the Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris, re-landing in Vienna. Representatives of the airline in Israel told Ynet that “the airplane returned to Vienna following the abnormal amount of dust in the air.”

Particle concentration data demonstrated a surge in air pollution in the afternoon hours. Until early morning, air pollution was relatively tolerable, but it was around noon that exceedingly high pollution levels were registered in the south and in the center. The peak was recorded at 2:00pm in Be’er Sheva—5 times the daily average. Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rehovot and Modi’in registered particularly high air pollution in the afternoon as well.

Another Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Larnaca had also turned around, making an unplanned landing at the airport in Athens. The company said that the airline has a “particularly strict policy regarding safety and when the amount of dust in the air exceeds the norm, the company does not operate its aircrafts. The company apologizes for the inconvenience and will arrange alternative flights for its passengers.”

The thick pollution is expected to last into the night. The particle concentration should significantly drop once it starts raining, which is expected to happen overnight.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a warning following the afternoon heavy air pollution spreading from the south to the center and up north.

It is highly recommended for people with heart or lung diseases, the elderly, children and pregnant women to avoid strenuous physical activity, and spending unnecessary time outside. The healthy population should also avoid strenuous physical activity outdoors.

Source: Ynetnews News – Excessive air pollution from South to North

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Air pollution is devastating UK’s wild flowers turning countryside into ‘monotonous green badlands’ 

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

‘The very fabric of our countryside is changing under this rain of nitrogen’

Air pollution is having a devastating effect on Britain’s wild flowers by helping nettles, hogweed and other “thuggish” species turn the countryside into “monotonous green badlands”, major environmental groups have warned.

A report by the Plant Link UK network, backed by organisations including Plantlife, the National Trust, Woodland Trust and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, found that 90 per cent of heathlands, acid grasslands and  other sensitive habitats in England were suffering because of nitrogen emissions from fossil fuels and fertilisers. Across the whole of the UK, the figure was 63 per cent.

Nitrogen is a fertiliser, but plants fare differently depending on the amount present in the soil.

Some 37 per cent of Britain’s flowering plants prefer low nutrient conditions, whereas nettles in particular thrive when there is a lot of nitrogen in the soil.

Dr Trevor Dines, botanical specialist at Plantlife, said: “It is hard to exaggerate what a destructive impact nitrogen deposition is having on our wild flowers and other flora, fungi and ecosystems more broadly.

“Put simply, this report reveals that nitrogen deposition may present a far more immediate threat to semi-natural habitats than even climate change.”

He said as spring began to turn the countryside green again “all may seem as it should but look more closely and the truth is a little different”.

“Nettles, hogweed and hemlock – ‘thuggish’ species that thrive in soil steeped in excess nitrogen – are drowning out rare and more vulnerable wild plants who can only survive in less nutrient-rich soil,” Dr Dines said.

“We are force-feeding the natural world a diet of nutrient-rich junk food and it is having a devastating impact.

“Once diverse habitats are becoming monotonous green badlands where only the thugs survive and other more delicate plants are being bullied out of existence.”

He added that air pollution’s impact on human health was being “increasingly well documented”. It is estimated that tens of thousands of people die prematurely every year because of fossil fuel emissions.

“And it is now incumbent on us to ring the alarm bell for nitrogen deposition,” he said.

Nitrogen deposition takes place when emissions from transport, power stations, farming and industry – mainly in the form of nitrogen oxides and ammonia – are washed out of the air when it rains or if they simply drift down onto the land.

The report, called We Need to Talk About Nitrogen, said plants such as the harebell and bird’s-foot trefoil were at risk.

Rare lichens – used for more than 100 years to gauge air quality – such as the beautiful eyelashes treebeard lichen (Usnea florida) are also suffering, along with mosses, hornworts and liverworts.

Soil fungi are believed to be particularly vulnerable. They provide valuable functions in the soil and plants like orchids could suffer if their numbers are reduced.

Plantlife said a meeting of scientists, conservation groups, farmers and government officials held earlier this year had concluded that there was a need to tackle “one of the key threats to our biodiversity, soils and ecosystems”.

Dr Dines, who attended the meeting, said: “It is now vital that landowners, industry and politicians come together to urgently address this mounting problem.

“The very fabric of our countryside is changing under this rain of nitrogen and if the damage continues it will harm the ability of our most precious wildflower habitats to cope with other pressures such as climate change.”

Source: Air pollution is devastating UK’s wild flowers turning countryside into ‘monotonous green badlands’ | The Independent

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Infants are more exposed to harmful pollution on the way to school than on the way home, new research finds 

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Babies in prams accompanying older siblings on the school run are twice as likely to be exposed to harmful air pollution in the morning than in the afternoon, a new study has found.

The new research, published in the journal Environmental Pollution today, highlights the high levels exposure of babies in prams to fine and ultrafine particulate matter during the morning drop-in hours of school children compared with the afternoon drop-off hours.

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Surrey, also revealed that the worst places for infants to be exposed was at bus stops and traffic lights when they are waiting to cross roads.

A recent WHO report states that 570,000 children under the age of 5 die every year from respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution, and second-hand smoke.

Surrey researchers carried out a series of experiments using high specification air monitoring equipment located inside a pram to gauge the kind of pollutants and toxic chemicals toddlers are exposed to when accompanying older siblings during the school drop off/pick up peak times.

During the study tests, the monitoring equipment simulated the average primary school drop off/pick up, passing through a number of traffic intersections and bus stops during the drop-in (morning) and pick-up (afternoon) hours.

Primarily, the work of the research group identified that traffic intersections and bus stops emerged as pollution hotspots, with high levels of both coarse (PM2.5-10) and fine (PM2.5) particles.

The researchers also found that small-sized particles, including ultrafine particles, were higher on an average by about 47% (PM1), 31% (PM2.5) and 31% (PNC) during the morning than afternoon hours, reflecting the influence of traffic emissions during the morning peak hours.

Coarse particles (PM2.5-10) showed an opposite trend with 70% higher concentration during afternoon than morning, indicating that re-suspension was affected by the wetness of road pavement due to overnight dew in the early mornings.

The above findings clearly suggest much higher concentrations of fine and ultrafine particles during the morning peak hours, especially at the traffic intersections and bus stops, substantiating their past research findings.

Dr Prashant Kumar, lead author and Reader at the University of Surrey, said: “Previous research has shown that young children are far more susceptible to pollution than adults, due to their immature and developing systems and lower body weight. These findings provide an insight for families who walk to and from nursery/primary schools with young children. Essentially, children could be at risk of breathing in some nasty and harmful chemical species such as iron, aluminium and silica that form together the particles of various size ranges.

“One of the simplest ways to combat this is to use a barrier between the in-pram children and the exhaust emissions, especially at pollution hotspots such as traffic intersections, so parents could use pram covers if at all possible. We are also working closely with our industrial partners to develop innovative methods to clean the air around the children in their in-pram microenvironments.”

This project has been carried out under the framework of the University Global Partnership Network funded project, NEST-SEAS (Next-Generation Environmental Sensing for Local To Global Scale Health Impact Assessment).

The research was carried out in Guildford, Surrey, in the United Kingdom.

Source: Infants are more exposed to harmful pollution on the way to school than on the way home, new research finds — ScienceDaily

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London mayor Sadiq Khan launches low-emission bus zone‎ 

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

The first of 12 low-emission bus zones (LEBZ) has been launched by London mayor Sadiq Khan as part of his strategy to tackle air pollution.

It was established earlier in Putney High Street, one of the most polluted areas of London.

Only buses that meet the toughest emission standards will now be able to run in the Putney LEBZ, City Hall said.

It said Putney exceeded hourly legal levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on 1,248 occasions in 2016.

Under European Union rules, the limit should not be exceeded more than 18 times in a year.

The changes, which affect 145 buses on seven scheduled routes in Putney, are expected to reduce bus emissions across the 12 zones by over 80%.

The launch of the LEBZ comes as a recent opinion poll found nine out of 10 Londoners believe air pollution is at “crisis” level.

A report released by the mayor last week showed that every London borough has recorded illegally high levels of air pollution in the past two years, with Wandsworth recording some of the highest levels.

Wandsworth has exceeded the annual mean limit for NO2 pollution at five out of six of its automatic monitoring stations, with the sites on Putney High Street recording levels more than double the legal limit.

London’s new low emission bus zones:

  • Putney High Street – from Putney Station to Putney Bridge Road
  • Brixton to Streatham – from Brixton Hill via Stockwell Road and Streatham High Road to Streatham Place
  • A12 Eastern Avenue – from Blake Hall Road via High Road Leyton and Homerton High Street to Marsh Hill
  • Lewisham to Catford – from Bromley Road via Rushey Green to Lewisham High Street
  • Stratford – from Abbey Lane via Mile End Road to Woodgrange Road
  • Haringey – from High Road to Green Lanes
  • Camberwell to New Cross – from Blackheath Road via Camberwell Green and Peckham High Street to Wood’s Green
  • Wandsworth to St John’s Hill – from Lavender Hill to Wandsworth Road.
  • Edgware Road (Kilburn to Maida Vale) – from Cricklewood Broadway via Kilburn High Road to Shoot-Up Hill
  • Edmonton to Seven Sisters – from Amhurst Park via Green Lanes and Seven Sisters Road to The Broadway
  • Uxbridge Road to Shepherds Bush – from Ealing Broadway via Hanger Lane to Uxbridge Road, The Broadway
  • Chiswick High Road to Kensington – via Hammersmith Broadway and Kensington High Street to Studland Street

The 11 further LEBZs will be introduced by 2020, with the Brixton to Streatham one to be launched in October.

The mayor has previously announced that diesel-only buses will be phased out in London, which will only buy hybrid or zero-emission double-decker buses from 2018.

Mr Khan said “London’s toxic air is an outrage and I promised to make cleaning it up one of my top priorities.

“I have asked TfL to remove the oldest, dirtiest buses from our streets and this new route, along with the 11 others we’ll be introducing, will make a big difference to the pollution caused by our public transport system.

“I now need other cities around the world to work with me to demand cleaner bus technology so we can phase out diesel buses altogether.”

Source: London mayor Sadiq Khan launches low-emission bus zone‎ – BBC News

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Oxford city centre zero emissions zone study launched 

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

A study looking into banning all petrol and diesel vehicles from the centre of Oxford has been launched.

The city and county councils have jointly commissioned the £30,000 study in a bid to reduce air pollution.

If agreed, the zone could be introduced from 2020, starting small and expanding as technology develops.

The city centre has been a low emission zone since 2014, requiring all local bus services to use low-emitting vehicles.

City council board member John Tanner previously branded the idea “ridiculous”, but now says he is “thrilled” the study is taking place.

‘Unworkable’

He added: “Air pollution has a significant impact on the health of residents and visitors to Oxford.

“Our vision is to create a city centre that people can live and work in without worrying about how vehicle emissions will impact on their health.”

But speaking in 2015 he said the city council would not support “a blanket ban” because “ordinary” cars were not responsible for pollution.

The Road Haulage Association also called the proposals “unworkable”.

A spokesman for the county council said the ban would initially only apply on a small number of roads, and the timescales would change if technology was not advanced enough.

Last year, Oxford was featured in a report by the World Health Organisation as one of 10 cities with unacceptable levels of pollution.

And European Union targets for air pollution are currently being breached at 32% of 75 locations monitored across Oxford.

Source: Oxford city centre zero emissions zone study launched – BBC News

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Air pollution killing 14,300 Kenyans annually: report 

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

The World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Monday revealed that a quarter of all global deaths of children under five are caused by dirty and polluted environments including dirty water and air, second-hand smoke and a lack of adequate hygiene.

In Kenya, according to a United Nations report of 2016 titled “Actions on Air Quality”, at least 14,300 Kenyans die every year from health conditions which can be traced back to indoor air pollution with pneumonia cited as one of the biggest killers associated with air pollution.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that lack of clean air and water can lead to fatal cases of diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia. This also exposes children to harmful chemicals through food, water, air and products around them.

“A polluted environment is a deadly one, particularly for young children. Their developing organs and immune systems and smaller bodies and airways, make them especially vulnerable to dirty air and water,” said Ms Chan.

In the report, “Inheriting a sustainable world: Atlas on children’s health and the environment”, the WHO said harmful exposure can start in the womb, and then continue if infants and toddlers are exposed to indoor and outdoor air pollution and second-hand smoke.

This increases their childhood risk of pneumonia as well as their lifelong risk of chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma.

Air pollution also increases the lifelong risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, the report said.

The report also noted that in households without access to safe water and sanitation, or that are polluted with smoke from unclean fuels such as coal or dung for cooking and heating, children are at higher risk of diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Interestingly, air quality monitoring in Kenya is practically non-existent, although a few cases of monitoring have happened after complaints from the public, only to be abandoned later on.

Source: Air pollution killing 14,300 Kenyans annually: report – Daily Nation

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Use buggy covers to combat air pollution danger, parents warned

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Parents should protect their infants by using covers on pushchairs during the school run, particularly in the morning, according to experts

Parents should use covers on their pushchairs during the school run to protect their infants from air pollution, experts have warned.

Scientists tested the pollution levels inside prams to assess the exposure of infants taken on the school run with older siblings. The researchers found that the fine particle pollution from vehicle exhausts, which is particularly harmful, was higher during the morning journey.

“Young children are far more susceptible to pollution than adults, due to their immature and developing systems and lower body weight,” said Dr Prashant Kumar, at the University of Surrey and who led the new research. “These findings provide an insight for families who walk to and from nursery and primary schools with young children. Essentially, children could be at risk of breathing in some nasty and harmful chemical species.”

“One of the simplest ways to combat this is to use a barrier between the in-pram children and the exhaust emissions, especially at pollution hotspots such as traffic intersections, so parents should use pram covers if at all possible,” he said.

The new study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, placed detectors for particulate pollution in pushchairs and made 64 journeys to and from schools in Guildford at drop-off and pick-up times. They found that air pollution spiked at road junctions and by bus stands, and that fine particle pollution was higher in the mornings, when the roads are busiest.

“Fine particles show larger health impacts compared to their larger counterparts and at the young age children are more susceptible to particulate pollution, suggesting a clear need for precautionary measures to limit their exposure during their transport along the busy roadsides,” the researchers concluded.

Previous work on whether adults are exposed to less pollution than children, who are closer to the level of exhaust pipes, has produced conflicting results. One study showed children were exposed to twice as much particle pollution, while another found children in buggies were exposed to lower levels of fine particles. The new work found no significant differences.

Levels of particulate pollution in the UK are generally below legal limits, but 40 of the 51 air quality zones in the UK exceed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline limits for fine particulate matter, and the WHO has urged the UK to do more to cut pollution. Earlier this week, the WHO revealed that around the world 560,000 children under five years old die each year as a result of air pollution.

Particulate pollution is estimated to cause a total of 29,000 early deaths in adults each year in the UK. Levels of another key pollutant – nitrogen dioxide – are above legal levels in much of the UK. A recent study commissioned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, showed over 800 schools, nurseries and colleges in the capital alone are in areas with illegally high NO2 levels.

On Thursday, Khan announced the first of 12 “low emission bus zones”, where only the cleanest buses will be allowed to run. The first is along Putney High Street, a notorious pollution blackspot, with others to follow including in Brixton.

Khan, who said the zones represent the most extensive network of clean buses of any major world city, commented: “London’s toxic air is an outrage. [This] will make a big difference to the pollution caused by our public transport system.”

Research published by Kumar’s team in February showed that drivers in London are the commuters least exposed to harmful particulate pollution, when compared with those taking the underground or the bus. “There is definitely an element of environmental injustice among those commuting in London, with those who create the most pollution having the least exposure to it,” he said.

Source: Use buggy covers to combat air pollution danger, parents warned | Environment | The Guardian

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The Smoky City: Air Pollution in Reykjavík Soars

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Respro® UK Ltd

Early risers may have noticed that Reykjavík looks a little more sulphuric than normal recently. Yesterday morning, as city-dwellers rushed to work, smog blanketed the capital in a yellowish film.

Reykjavík—whose name means “Bay of Smokes” in Icelandic, reportedly because the first Viking settlers saw steam from geothermal vents when they first landed in Iceland—is now living up to its name in a new way.

“The pollution comes from traffic. The reason we can see it so clearly is the weather—there have been many days in a row with almost no wind,” said Svava S. Steinarsdóttir, health officer at the Reykjavík Health Board.

“The pollution does not get [dispersed] as it usually [does]; it gathers on the horizon and you see this yellowish tint,” she continued. “It’s been rather high for the past week or so.”

Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) along Grensásvegur in the eastern part of the city surged to 122 grams per cubic metre (g/m3) yesterday, according to Reykjavík air monitoring data. Any measurement above 100 is enough to change local air quality designations from “good” to “moderate.” Such a designation means that individuals with sensitive health issues—such as asthma—can be affected.

NO2 is a prominent air pollutant in urban areas and is linked to respiratory difficulties, but levels were not high enough to breach the city’s pollution limits.

“If we think it’s going to be a health concern, then the public health authority will issue a warning,” said Svava. “[Smog] is usually tied to the morning traffic and afternoon traffic.”

Those individuals desiring a breath of clean air may have to wait for the winds to pick back up—or for Reykjavik to hop on the electric car bandwagon.

In the meantime, live pollution levels in Reykjavík are available at http://testapi.rvk.is/#/stodvar.

Source: The Smoky City: Air Pollution in Reykjavík Soars – The Reykjavik Grapevine

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