China: 40 cities reel under heavy smog, air pollution for third day 

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

The ministry has sent 13 inspection teams to check whether local governments have taken appropriate measures to address heavy pollution and sanction illegal factory emissions.

Heavy smog continued to engulf 40 Chinese cities for the third day on Sunday, with many of them under red alert for severe air pollution, as China’s environmental watchdog said the situation is likely to worsen further due to unfavourable weather conditions.

While 23 cities in north China, including Beijing and Tianjin, have activated red alerts as the air began to turn hazy starting Friday, 17 other cities declared orange alerts, the second highest alert invoking emergency measures, state- run CCTV said.

As many as 35 flights in Tianjin, east of here, were delayed or cancelled and highways into the city of 7.5 million people were closed due to “extremely low visibility”, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

Beijing and other local governments have imposed odd-even car restrictions on roads and cut emissions for factories.

The heavy smog came a bit later than previously forecast as efforts paid off, and pollutant density in the air has somewhat been reduced in these cities, Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection said.

However, further observation is needed to confirm the actual effects of these measures, and air pollution is still likely to worsen as weather conditions continue to be unfavourable, the ministry said in a statement.

Pollution levels are likely to peak between today and tomorrow, it said, adding there will be another peak on Wednesday, Xinhua reported citing the statement.

In Beijing, the air quality index (AQI) reading reached 253 indicating heavily polluted air, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre.

China’s National Meteorological Centre (NMC) maintained an orange alert for smog today for north China, warning that air pollution will be the most severe from tomorrow evening to Wednesday.

Some regions will see PM2.5 density levels exceeding 500, the NMC said, adding the smog is expected to disperse from Wednesday night.

China has a four-tier warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Source: China: 40 cities reel under heavy smog, air pollution for third day | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

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Poor air quality hits central and southern Taiwan 

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

According to the EPA standards, AQI levels above 150 are considered “unhealthy for everyone.”

Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Monday warned the residents in central and southern Taiwan of poor air quality as the Air Quality Index (AQI) readings at some of the region’s monitoring stations have reached “code red” levels.

In some areas of central and southern Taiwan, including Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung, as well as offshore islands of Kinmen, code red levels were observed, meaning the AQI index readings were between 151 and 200, a “moderately polluted” level.

According to the EPA standards, AQI levels above 150 are considered “unhealthy for everyone.”

The EPA uses a six-color air pollution warning system, in which a maroon alert is the highest and most severe warning, which indicates “hazardous” air quality, and is followed by purple, red, orange, yellow, and green alerts.

Advisories have been made for residents in the regions, especially for the elderly, children, those with respiratory illnesses and heart conditions to limit outdoor activities and wear masks when going out to reduce negative respiratory effects from the bad air.

Source: Poor air quality hits central and southern Taiwan | Taiwan News

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Beijing issues red alert for severely high air pollution due to incoming smog

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Beijing city government has issued a red alert for severely high levels of air pollution in the city for three days from December 17 to 21, according to a post on the Beijing environmental protection bureau’s official Weibo account.

china-smog

Beijing city government has issued a red alert for severely high levels of air pollution in the city for three days from December 17 to 21, according to a post on the Beijing environmental protection bureau’s official Weibo account.

The incoming smog was due to an accumulation of air pollution in Beijing and surrounding areas, including Tianjin city and Hebei, Shandong and Hunan provinces, the post said, citing forecasts from the China Environmental Monitoring Center.

A colour-graded warning system of alerts was introduced in China’s capital city last year as part of the government vow to crackdown on environmental degradation following decades of unbridled economic growth.

Beijing’s first ever red alert was issued in December last year, temporarily closing schools and halting construction in the city.

The government has since been tweaking the system, raising in February the threshold of issuance to a higher average daily air quality index reading.

Source: Beijing issues red alert for severely high air pollution due to incoming smog | The Independent

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Public transport in Warsaw free today amid pollution worries 

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Warsaw City Hall on Thursday for the first time gave residents free access to public transport across the capital in a bid to reduce high air pollution.

Warsaw Deputy Mayor Michał Olszewski said: “We urge residents to leave their cars at home and use the public transport system. We ask them not to use their fireplaces.”

He added: “Residents should also limit the time they spend outside, especially in the eastern districts of Warsaw, where the level of pollution might be especially high.”

Anna Dworakowska-Guła, from a grass-roots movement called Kraków Smog Alert, which aims to educate residents in Kraków, southern Poland, about the dangers of pollution, said: “It’s very good that the problem of smog is being noticed in our capital too.

“Maybe this will force politicians to take the necessary action and legislative changes in order to improve air quality in the whole country.”

She added that making public transport free would have an “educational and public awareness impact”, but would not significantly improve air quality.

Source: Public transport in Warsaw free today amid pollution worries – National

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Paris restricts traffic on new pollution episode 

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

A new peak in air pollution forced Paris authorities to restrict tragic in French capital on Dec. 16, Paris authorities said on Thursday.

“Because of a new episode of air pollution …, Paris city announces the implementation of alternating traffic measure and decides free residential parking for Friday…,” the city authorities said in a statement.

On Dec. 16, only vehicles with license plates ended with even numbers will be allowed to circulate in the city center.

Local authorities also offered free public transport. They encouraged the use of clean modes of transport such as Velib and Autolib, which are public sharing services for bicycles and electric cars.

Over last weekend, Paris removed driving restrictions which has been imposed since Dec. 6 on expected improvement in air quality.

In order to curb deteriorating air quality, the French capital will launch next month a vignette system based on a color-coded sticker indicating the age and pollution level of cars to allow only clean vehicles to circulate.

Vehicles, heating systems and wood burning have caused smog spike, the country’s worst and longest pollution in a decade.

Source: Paris restricts traffic on new pollution episode – Global Times

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Beijing issues red alert for severely high air pollution 

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Beijing city government has issued a red alert for severely high levels of air pollution in the city for five days from late on Friday until Dec. 21, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said on its official Twitter-like Weibo account.

The incoming smog was due to an accumulation of air pollution in Beijing and surrounding areas, including Tianjin city and Hebei, Shandong and Hunan provinces, according to Thursday’s post, which cited forecasts from the China Environmental Monitoring Center.

A colour-graded warning system of alerts was introduced in China’s capital city last year as part of the government vow to crackdown on environmental degradation following decades of unbridled economic growth.

Beijing’s first ever red alert was issued in December last year, temporarily closing schools and halting construction in the city.

The government has since been tweaking the system, raising in February the threshold of issuance to a higher average daily air quality index reading.

Source: Beijing issues red alert for severely high air pollution | Daily Mail Online

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‘Air pollution impairs function of blood vessels’

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution impairs the function of blood vessels in the lungs, according to a study in more than 16,000 patients presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2016.

“This is the first human study to report an influence of air pollution on pulmonary vascular function,” said lead author Dr. Jean-Francois Argacha, a cardiologist at the University Hospital (UZ) Brussels, Belgium. “This is a major public health issue for people living in polluted urban areas where exercise could damage the lungs and potentially lead to decompensated heart failure.”

Promoting a safer environment appears to be as important as controlling conventional risk factors, like high cholesterol, in reducing cardiovascular disease. Air pollution consists of particles (particulate matter [PM] of different sizes) and gases (nitrogen dioxide, ozone, etc). The first vascular bed in contact with air pollutants is the pulmonary circulation yet few studies have investigated the impact.

“Such studies are important because if air pollution causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the lungs (vasoconstriction), this combined with the systemic effects of pollution could cause decompensated heart failure,” said Argacha. The current study examined the effect of air pollution on pulmonary haemodynamics in a population and in individuals.

The population study assessed whether common levels of outdoor air pollution influence the echocardiography parameters conventionally used to evaluate the pulmonary circulation and right ventricular function. Between 2009 and 2013, transthoracic echocardiography including an evaluation of pulmonary pressure was conducted in 16 295 individuals and correlated with average air pollution in Brussels on the same day and in the last five and ten days. The authors examined whether any patient subgroups were more susceptible to the effects of air pollution.

The individual study examined the effect of air pollution on pulmonary circulation in ten healthy male volunteers exposed to pollutants in a chamber with standardised conditions. The volunteers were exposed to ambient air or dilute diesel exhaust with a PM2.5 concentration of 300 ?g/m3 for two hours in a randomised, crossover study design. The effects on pulmonary vascular resistance were assessed with echocardiography at rest and during a cardiac stress test in which the drug dobutamine is given to simulate heart function during exercise.

The population study showed a negative effect of PM10, PM2.5 and ozone on pulmonary circulation on the same day and over five and ten days. Specifically, increases in these pollutants were associated with reduced pulmonary acceleration time and increased pulmonary acceleration slope. Increases in PM10 and PM2.5 over ten days were associated with worse right ventricle function. The negative impact of PM10 on pulmonary circulation was more pronounced in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.

Argacha said: “Air pollution was associated with increased pulmonary vascular tone which makes it more difficult for blood to flow to the lungs. Longer exposure to air pollution exposure seems necessary to impair right ventricular systolic function. Patients with obstructive sleep apnoea were at greater risk.”

The individual study showed that exposure to diesel exhaust did not modify the pulmonary circulation compared to ambient air when the volunteers were resting but did when dobutamine was administered.

Source: ‘Air pollution impairs function of blood vessels’ — Features — The Guardian Nigeria

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Traffic blocks in place as smog engulfs Italy 

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd
Italy’s major cities have introduced restrictions on cars and other motor vehicles to combat dangerously high levels of air pollution.

The situation is most serious in Milan, where safe limits of fine particles have been surpassed more than 60 days this year, and for seven consecutive days so far in December.

The most polluting cars – Euro 0 petrol cars and Euro 0, 1 and 2 diesel cars – have been banned from the streets on weekdays between 7:30 and 7:30pm since mid-October. This ban has now been extended to weekends as well, with an additional block on diesel Euro 3 cars in place between 9am and 5pm.

On Sunday, 15 motorists were fined for flouting the ban after spot checks were carried out.

Milan’s city council has taken other measures to fight the smog: bonfires, or any other activity involving burning wood, have also been forbidden.

Meanwhile, property owners have been asked to lower temperatures in homes and offices to 19C as an additional way of fighting the fine particles pollution.

The city’s councillor for mobility and environment said the restrictions would likely continue over the coming days, as weather conditions were expected to stay stable.

Italy’s other major cities have also been battling smog caused by stagnant air and unseasonably mild weather.

Sunday was the first ‘Eco Day’ in Rome, with the most polluting cars banned from the streets.

In Naples, traffic restrictions are in place between 9am-12:30 and 2:30-4:30pm, with the ban in place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week. Turin will introduce its first traffic blocks on Wednesday.

On Monday, consumer rights’ organization Coldiretti noted that the lack of green spaces in Italy’s big cities may be one factor in the country’s high level of air pollution.

It said that cities  green spaces made up just 2.7 percent of urban, according to data from national statistics agency Istat.

“This calls for action at a structural level, since an adult plan is able to absorb 100-250g of fine particles from the air, so one hectare of plants eliminates about 20 kilograms of dust and smog each year,” the organization noted.

Paris and Lyon in France have also been suffering from the smog over the past week, with Paris making all public transport free to residents. However, this measure was lifted over the weekend as air pollution levels began to fall.

But motorists aren’t the only culprits. Last December, a town in Campania, near Naples, banned pizza-making over fears that the wood-burning ovens were contributing to pollution.

Source: Traffic blocks in place as smog engulfs Italy – The Local

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