One in seven children suffer high air pollution: UNICEF

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Almost one in seven children worldwide live in areas with high levels of outdoor air pollution, mostly in South Asia, and their growing bodies are most vulnerable to damage, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said on Monday.

UNICEF called on almost 200 governments, which will meet in Morocco from Nov. 7-18 for talks on global warming, to restrict use of fossil fuels to give twin benefits of improved health and slower climate change.

About 300 million children, or almost one in seven worldwide, lived in areas where outdoor pollution was highest, defined by UNICEF as at least six times international guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO), it said.

Of the total, 220 million lived in South Asia. It identified the regions with satellite imagery developed by NASA.

UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said air pollution was a “major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year”, causing illnesses such as pneumonia.

“Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs – they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains – and, thus, their futures,” he said in a statement.

“Air pollution affects poor children the most,” Nicholas Rees, a UNICEF specialist on climate and economic analysis who wrote the report, told Reuters.

Worldwide, the WHO estimates that outdoor air pollution killed 3.7 million people in 2012, including 127,000 children aged under five. Factories, power plants and vehicles using fossil fuels, dust and burning of waste were among sources.

Indoor air pollution, often caused by coal- or wood-burning cooking stoves used in homes in developing nations, killed even more people, 4.3 million, of whom 531,000 were aged under five, it said.

UNICEF called on the U.N.-led meeting in Morocco to hasten a shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energies such as wind or solar power, to improve children’s access to health care, limit children’s exposure to pollution and to step up monitoring of the air.

Source: One in seven children suffer high air pollution: UNICEF | Reuters

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Delhi Chokes On Air 14 Times More Polluted As Diwali Smog Clouds India

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

There is thick smog hanging over Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh on the morning after Diwali, with pollution at a dangerous “severe” at 7 am on Monday. Smoke from firecrackers has choked the air and also affected visibility.

Data from the central pollution monitoring agency showed that concentrations of Particulate Matter or PM 10 (coarser pollutants) was over 1,600 micrograms per cubic metre compared to a safe level of 100 at around 2 am in Delhi’s Anand Vihar. PM 2.5, a standard measure of air quality, was as much as 14 times the safe limit.

These particles can cause respiratory diseases if one is subjected to prolonged exposure to unsafe levels. Seven areas in the national capital region featured among the 10 most polluted places in the country, while Kanpur and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh also recorded severe pollution.

Pollution in Delhi peaks during Diwali as a hazardous mix of noxious gases and pollutants hang very close to the surface. The Delhi High Court had described the capital as “gas chamber” last year.

As people celebrated Diwali by bursting firecrackers on Sunday, a NASA photo at about 8 pm showed the top half of India hazy with smoke.

Experts had warned that pollution during this year’s Diwali was expected to be worse than the last two years because of a combination of adverse factors like slow wind speed and moisture in the air, a major hindrance in the dispersion of suspended pollutants.

The pollution monitoring agency has advised people to avoid all outdoor physical activity when air quality is rated “severe” like this morning. People with heart or lung diseases, older adults, and children are advised to remain indoors and keep activity levels low.

A report released by UNICEF on Monday said almost one in seven children worldwide live in areas with high levels of outdoor air pollution, mostly in South Asia, and their growing bodies are most vulnerable to damage.

Around 6 lakh children under age 5 die every year – more than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined – from diseases caused by or exacerbated by outdoor and indoor air pollution, UNICEF said.

Source: Delhi Chokes On Air 14 Times More Polluted As Diwali Smog Clouds India

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Southern Taiwan engulfed by air pollution 

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air quality in southern Taiwan reached hazardous levels on Saturday, with the key indicator of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5) hitting the highest level of 10 in Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Tainan, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said.

The poor air quality was caused by a lack of wind to disperse atmospheric pollutants, the EPA said, urging residents in southern Taiwan who are sensitive to bad air to avoid outdoor activities.

As of 1 p.m., concentrations of PM2.5 reached level 10 in Pingtung City, Pingtung County’s Chaozhou Township, Kaohsiung’s Fengshan and Renwu Districts and Tainan’s Shanhua and Xinying Districts, according to readings from EPA stations in those areas.

The 1-10 PM2.5 index also hit level 9 in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District, and level 8 in Tainan City, Chiayi City and Chiayi County’s Puzi, according to the readings.

According to the EPA, level-10 PM2.5 concentrations exceed 71 micrograms per cubic meter and are considered extremely high, but measurements above level 7 are deemed severe enough to cause tangible discomfort and health problems.

Given the air quality, the elderly and those with chronic lung or heart diseases should avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical activities. People with asthma may also need to use their inhalers more often, the EPA said.

Source: Southern Taiwan engulfed by air pollution – The China Post

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Satellite images reveal toxic clouds enveloping northern Iraq

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

As Iraqi forces fight to retake Mosul from the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), clouds of toxic fumes are spreading across northern Iraq.

The acrid smoke, which is so significant it is visible from space, is threatening to harm Iraqis’ health just as hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Mosul for their lives.

Militants from the Islamic State blew up the Al-Mishraq sulfur processing plant over the weekend and set fire to 19 oil wells in an effort to hamper the advance of Iraqi and U.S. forces.

NASA released new images on Thursday showing sulfur dioxide plumes dispersing across northern and central Iraq as early as Oct. 20.

Large concentrations of sulfur dioxide can permanently damage the respiratory system and make breathing difficult. Depending where it is located in the atmosphere, sulfur dioxide can also contribute to acid rain and act as a temporary cooling influence on the climate.

Ozone monitoring equipment detected plumes from burning oil wells and sulfur plants near Mosul, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

According to Al-Jazeera, at least two Iraqi civilians have died from toxic fumes, and nearly 1,000 people were being treated for breathing problems as of Oct. 22.

NASA said the sulfur dioxide was initially in lower parts of the atmosphere, but shifting winds pushed it higher, enabling the particles to travel longer distances.

The agency’s ozone monitoring equipment detected two streaks of plumes. The white-gray streak, from the sulfur plant, is rich with sulfate aerosols and droplets of light-reflecting sulfuric acid. Black plumes from the Qayyarah oil field are rich with black carbon and other light-absorbing aerosols.

ISIS has ruled Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, for more than two years. The push to retake Mosul from the militants is the largest operation launched by Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The Al-Mishraq sulfur facility was also set ablaze that year. The fire, which burned for nearly a month, release some 21 kilotons of sulfur dioxide per day, according to NASA satellite data gathered in 2003.

U.S. soldiers exposed to the fire suffered serious lung damage. Nineteen personnel had open lung biopsies and were diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis, a disease similar to asthma that restricts the airway, the Department of Veterans Affairs said in 2010.

NASA has not yet calculated the total output of this month’s toxic fires near Mosul, a city of more than a million. But the agency said the sulfur dioxide emissions have already been significant.

Simon Carn, an atmospheric scientist at Michigan Technological University, said that if the sulfur dioxide was coming from a volcano rather than a fire, it would already be among the largest volcanic eruptions of 2016, he noted in an Oct. 25 tweet.

@simoncarn

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that 700,000 people were expected to flee Mosul as Iraqi forces continued their advance, a battle that is expected to take weeks, if not months.

Source: Satellite images reveal toxic clouds enveloping northern Iraq

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Delhi: Air pollution is ‘severe’ three days before Diwali

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

The state government started the process of installing Radio Frequency Identification Devices and Weigh-in-Motion machines to curb pollution.

The Air Quality Index indicated that pollution levels in Delhi were “severe” at many places on Thursday and prompted the government to issue an alert, reported PTI. The pollution level is categorised as severe if the AQI ranges between 401 and 500.

The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research data showed that the overall AQI crossed 300. However, the worst air quality levels were at Anand Vihar, Mandir Marg and RK Puram, where it touched the maximum limit of 500 three days before Diwali, reported Hindustan Times.

Simultaneously, the Delhi government started the process of installing Radio Frequency Identification Devices and Weigh-in-Motion machines for regulation of commercial vehicles to curb air pollution. These machines will be installed at 13 entry points to the Capital. The step comes six days after the Supreme Court had asked the authorities concerned to come up with a concrete plan for garbage disposal. The environment department has already said that Rs 5,000 will be charged if one is caught burning garbage and dry leaves in the open, reported India Today.

Plans are also afoot to introduce other steps to check pollution in the coming months. However, no announcement has been made in this regard so far.

According to reports, the quality of air worsens in the Capital because of a spike in vehicular traffic, while decreasing temperatures and lack of winds also invite more pollution. Experts have warned Delhiites to brace for worse air quality, with Diwali around the corner. For the past few years, Delhi pollution has multiplied up to five times on the day of Diwali, and experts believe that this year will not be any different.

Source: Delhi: Air pollution is ‘severe’ three days before Diwali

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Air pollution limits are not strict enough to tackle public health dangers, scientists warn

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Breathing in high levels of soot and other tiny particles from fossil fuels may have a similar effect on blood pressure as being overweight

air-pollution

Living in the most polluted parts of a city appears to have a similar effect on your blood pressure as becoming overweight, according to the world’s largest ever study of the effects of fossil fuel emission on human health.

Researchers warned their findings showed that current European Union limits on air pollution were not low enough to adequately protect people.

Those limits are regularly breached in parts of the UK and the Government has been taken to court in order to force it to introduce measures to address the problem.

According to official figures, an estimated 40,000 people a year die prematurely in the UK because of the air they breathe. The World Health Organization has warned air pollution is “wreaking havoc on human health”, while campaigners have described diesel fumes as the “biggest public health catastrophe since the Black Death”.

The new study investigated the effects of air pollution and traffic noise on 41,000 people in five different countries, Spain, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, for up to nine years.

When the research began, none of the participants had high blood pressure, but more than 6,200 reported they had developed the disease or had started taking drugs to lower their blood pressure during the period.

The researchers found that those living in the most polluted parts of a city had a higher chance of developing it than people in less polluted urban areas. They said the risk was similar to someone with a normal body mass index becoming officially overweight.

Traffic noise was also a factor: people living in areas where the average night-time noise level was 50 decibels – about the same level as a conversation at home – had a six per cent higher change of high blood pressure compared to those where the average level was 40 decibels, which is like a library.

Professor Barbara Hoffmann, of Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, who led the study, said: “As virtually everybody is exposed to air pollution for all of their lives, this leads to a high number of hypertension cases, posing a great burden on the individual and on society.

“One very important aspect is that these associations can be seen in people living well below current European air pollution standards.

“This means the current legislation does not protect the European population adequately from adverse effects of air pollution.

“Given the ubiquitous presence of air pollution and the importance of hypertension as the most important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, these results have important public health consequences and call for more stringent air quality regulations.”

The researchers said they had been able to show that traffic noise and air pollution were both independently linked to high blood pressure.

They added it was possible that they affected the body in different ways. Air pollution may affect the heart and blood vessels by causing inflammation, a build-up of damaging molecules in the body, and disruption of the nervous system. Noise is believed to affect the nervous and hormonal systems.

Commenting on the research, described in the European Heart Journal, Jenny Bates, a Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner, said the evidence about the impact of air pollution on people’s health was clearly increasing.

“Crucially, this study shows that there are health risks, even when levels of fine particles of air pollution are below EU legal limits – and in fact the World Health Organisation say there is no known safe limit for this pollution,” she said.

“Air pollution leads to 40,000 early deaths in the UK every year. It causes lung cancer, contributes to respiratory disease including worsening of asthma, and to heart disease with this latest study linking it to high blood pressure.

“Urgent action is needed to get dirty diesel vehicles off our roads, and to reduce road traffic. The UK Government must be bold and put in place a plan to phase out diesel, support Clean Air Zones across the country and offer people real alternatives to driving, in order to save lives and improve health.”

Greenpeace senior campaigner Areeba Hamid said: “The UK is facing a public health emergency due to air pollution, mainly caused by diesel cars.

“Even though the list of symptoms is worryingly long, the Government’s plan to bring safe air to all Britons is conspicuous by its absence. As we begin the process to exit the EU, any legislation around air quality should take the best of the current EU standards and make them even better.

Three of the five countries where this study was undertaken are already seeing cities moving to cleaner technologies and transport systems. It is time for the UK to decide if it wants to join that shift, or continue spending billions on NHS resources to treat conditions linked to air pollution.”

However Professor Francesco Cappuccio, who is vice-president of the British & Irish Hypertension Society, said there should be a “big note of caution” about the research.

“The present aggregate analysis suggests that whilst measures of air pollution across different European countries are associated with a greater risk of ‘self-reported’ hypertension, there is no evidence of such an association with the incidence of ‘measured’ hypertension,” he said.

“It is well recognised that the awareness of hypertension in the general population is weakly correlated with its presence when measured, and the lack of symptoms or signs often associated with it makes self-reported estimates unreliable, often biasing population hypertension estimates.

“In the future, similar population studies should only rely on objective, direct and valid measures of blood pressure in the community to estimate prevalence or incidence of hypertension.”

Source: Air pollution limits are not strict enough to tackle public health dangers, scientists warn | The Independent

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Petrol cars allowed to exceed pollution limits by 50% under draft EU laws 

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Car industry successfully lobbied for loopholes to dilute EU laws limiting toxic particulates emissions for new cars, the Guardian has learned

New European cars with petrol engines will be allowed to overshoot a limit on toxic particulates emissions by 50% under a draft EU regulation backed by the UK and most other EU states.

Campaigners say that a simple €25 (£22) filter could drastically cut the pollution, but the Guardian has learned that car-makers have instead mounted a successful push for loopholes and legislative delay.

Bas Eickhout, a Green MEP on the European parliament’s environment committee and dieselgate inquiry panel, promised action to ensure that the lessons of the VW scandal were learned.

“With this ridiculous proposal, the EU’s member states are again trying to dilute EU laws at a terrible cost to human health. We will call on the European commission to come to the European parliament and explain themselves on this issue,” he said.

Particulate matter (PM) is the largest single contributor to the estimated 600,000 premature deaths across Europe from pollution-related heart and lung diseases each year. Children and the elderly are worst affected, and the associated health costs could be as high as €1.6tn a year in Europe, according to the World Health Organisation.

Although exhaust fumes from diesel and petrol engines are one of the largest sources of particulates emissions, most EU member states support raising the EU’s pollution standard 50% above the legal limit set down in the Euro 6 regulation. Behind the scenes, vehicle makers have pushed strongly for a staggering 300% over, according to material seen by the Guardian.

The draft regulation is still being discussed by EU member states and the auto industry has not given up hopes of wrenching further concessions on particulate emissions ahead of a final decision on 7 December.

One Powerpoint slide shown to EU expert groups by the European automobile manufacturers association (Acea) says that a 300% latitude in meeting the letter of the law would be “realistic” because of “measurement uncertainty” in emissions tests.

Florent Grelier, a clean vehicles engineer at the Transport and Environment (T&E) campaign group, told the Guardian she feared that EU attempts to improve air quality were being “bent to the will of the automotive industry”.

“This is a petrolgate scandal in the making,” she said. “Unless the European commission and governments establish strict test procedures to protect the industry from its own short-sightedness, within a few years we will see continuing high levels of particles killing hundreds of thousands of citizens prematurely.”

Under EU law, car-manufacturers are already obliged to use filters for diesel engines, but not for the rapidly-growing 40% of the petrol engine market which is made up by uncontrolled gasoline direct injection engines. These release more particulate matter than modern diesel cars.

Gasoline particulate filters could reduce these emissions by a factor of around 100, and would cost manufacturers just €25 per car, according to research by T&E. But car manufacturers have argued this would violate the principle of technology neutrality.

A spokesman for Acea declined to comment on the issue.

Calls by the auto industry for a delay in implementing the new regulation have been well received by several car-producing EU countries. Spain and Sweden argued for a one-year legislative delay that would push its introduction back to 2019, in minutes of a technical committee meeting earlier this month seen by the Guardian.

The UK took no formal position on when the new regulation should enter into force but warned of “unintended adverse effects” if PM limits were given a separate starting date to standards for another pollutant, nitriogen oxide (NOx) , which will now begin in 2019.

An EU group of national experts – the technical committee on motor vehicles – is now expected to sign off on the final proposal to amend the Euro 6 regulation for real world driving emissions, in December.

The issue of “conformity factors” – or compensating for uncertainties in emissions tests – last year led the committee to impose a NOx limit 110% higher than the one written into the Euro 6 regulations last year.

Source: Petrol cars allowed to exceed pollution limits by 50% under draft EU laws | Environment | The Guardian

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Four in 10 UK councils exceed air pollution limits, figures show 

Posted on October 22, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ministers reveal 169 local authorities breached annual legal limits on nitrogen oxide, linked to lung disease, last year

Four in 10 of Britain’s local authorities breached legal air quality limits last year, largely due to heavy road traffic, government records reveal.

Ministers have admitted that 169 local authorities were found to have gone over annual limits on nitrogen dioxide. It is an invisible gas produced predominantly by road traffic, and is linked to lung disease and cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes.

Monitoring stations in councils across all four nations of the UK recorded breaches of the legal limits on NO2, data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs shows.

A report in April from the environment, food and rural affairs select committee stated that poor air quality was linked to more than 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year. The committee is chaired by Neil Parish, the Tory MP who obtained the latest figures from the government.

Parish said he was working with the liberal conservative thinktank Bright Blue to secure the power and funding to introduce a clean air zone in pollution hotspots in all local authorities. This month, the government made available £3m for councils to bid for funding to improve air quality.

Parish said: “These are shocking statistics. When we think of areas breaking air quality laws, we usually think of a handful of areas in our busiest towns and cities. These figures show just how widespread the problem is across the UK. It requires a comprehensive solution – urgently”.

“The government needs to act now to give all councils the power – and crucially, the funding – to implement a clean air zone and limit the most polluting vehicles in hotspot areas. The £3m government funding pot is a start but not nearly enough. We also need a big push to incentivise electric and low emissions vehicles to replace the oldest, most polluting vehicles.”

The government is being hauled before the courts over its failure to tackle the levels of nitrogen dioxide. A 1999 European Union directive set legal limits that came into force in 2010. Now the legal activist group, ClientEarth, is asking the high court to order ministers to come up with a better plan for improving air quality.

Sam Hall, environment researcher at Bright Blue, said the worst polluting carsshould be banned from cities in order to tackle the problem. “Forty percent of local authorities in the UK breached legal air pollution limits last year,” he said. “Poor air quality is clearly a national public health issue that requires urgent action.

“The government’s current plans for clean air zones in just five cities do not go far enough. Ministers should enable all city councils to set up clean air zones to restrict the dirtiest cars from urban centres.

“Together with measures to encourage greater uptake of electric vehicles, this approach would reduce air pollution, cut carbon emissions and boost automotive manufacturing in the UK.”

Source: Four in 10 UK councils exceed air pollution limits, figures show | Environment | The Guardian

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