NASA satellite finds 39 unreported sources of air pollution

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Scientists at NASA’s Environment and Climate Change Canada and researchers at University of Maryland, College Park and Dalhousie University discovered 39 unreported “major” sources of toxic air pollution. Using the space agency’s satellite imaging, the group located the man-made sources where toxic sulfur dioxide is being emitted. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a contributor to acid rain and is regulated on the ground by the EPA. However, to properly police the emissions, the government agency has to know the location of the pollutants.

These revelations were made possible by new computer processing tech that can take raw data from the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura spacecraft and translate it into sulfur dioxide concentration estimates. The advancements also allow scientists to detect smaller sources, like “oil-related activities” and more modestly-sized power plants.

Using satellite imagery of sulfur dioxide sources, the scientists were able to pinpoint “hotspots,” locating unreported emission sites after analyzing data collected between 2005 and 2014. The study found that the sources were coal-burning power plants, smelters and oil and gas operations mostly in the Middle East, but also located in Mexico and Russia. NASA says that reported emission levels in some of these areas was two to three times lower than the levels scientists found after studying satellite data from the 9-year span.

In total, the unknown sources and the discrepancy in the reported numbers could account for 12 percent of the total human-made sulfur dioxide emissions. That’s quite the swing, and it can potentially have a major impact on the air quality in the regions where the sites are located. The study also found 75 natural sources of SO2, some of which are in unmonitored remote locations. This study was the first to provide annual measurements for those non-active volcanoes that are slowly leaking toxic gas.

Source: NASA satellite finds 39 unreported sources of air pollution

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Air pollution tied to high blood pressure risk 

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Short and long-term exposure to air pollution from vehicle exhaust or burning coal is associated with high blood pressure, according to a review of 17 studies.

“Since the 1990s, a hypothesis of air pollution leading to hypertension risk was proposed by many researchers,” said senior author Tao Liu of the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Guangzhou, China.

The researchers analyzed 17 studies of air pollution and hypertension, defined as blood pressure higher than 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). In total, the studies included more than 80,000 people with high blood pressure and more than 220,000 people without it.

They found that short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide from burning fossil fuels and to particulates like dust and dirt in the air were associated with high blood pressure risk, as was long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide, which comes from power plants and vehicle exhaust.

Short-term exposure to ozone and carbon monoxide were not tied to blood pressure levels, as reported in the journal Hypertension.

Air pollution can cause inflammation and oxidative stress which may lead to changes in the arteries, the authors write.

“There is a linear relationship between air pollution and hypertension, which indicated that even a very low level of air pollution might induce hypertension risk,” Liu told Reuters Health by email. “Therefore, everyone should be concerned about the effects of air pollution on their blood pressure even if there is a very low air pollution level in their living environment.”

“However, it is impossible to remove all of the air pollutants from the environments,” Liu said.

The studies in this review tie pollution to high blood pressure but don’t prove that one causes the other, Liu said.

More studies, especially multi-center studies, are needed to investigate a causal relationship between air pollution and high blood pressure, Liu said.

“Without a clear mechanism we cannot conclude that pollution ‘causes’ hypertension,” said Dr. Gaetano Santulli of Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who was not part of the new study. “However, we should recall (going back to 1954) that epidemiological evaluations provided strong statistical support in linking cigarette smoking and cancer.”

Hypertension affects more than three million people in the U.S.

Quitting smoking, eating healthy, reducing intake of sodium and sugar, reducing chronic stress, and exercising regularly can help reduce the risk of high blood pressure, Santulli told Reuters Health by email.

Source: Air pollution tied to high blood pressure risk | Reuters

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Cities to EU: If you don′t act on air pollution, we will 

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ministers and mayors have signed a pact to increase cities’ efforts to tackle air pollution within the European Union. It comes as national European governments are poised to water down air pollution limits.

Representatives of city governments across Europe signed a pact in Amsterdam on Monday (30.05.2016) pledging to take action on air pollution, as national governments are poised to water down European Union quality rules.

Ministers in charge of urban affairs and city governments issued the “Pact of Amsterdam,” a direct partnership between city governments that seeks to bypass slow movement by national governments and the EU. In addition to air pollution, the pact will tackle housing, integration of migrants and urban poverty.

The initiative is part of a push for more “bottom-up” solutions in the European Union, where city governments are empowered to take more direct action. “There is a reason we have chosen the word ‘pact,'” said Ronald Plasterk, the Dutch interior minister, announcing the signature. “It’s not just Europe that decides that this is what’s going to happen, it’s not member states collectively – it’s all these stakeholders together.”

Cities pressure national governments

The declaration comes just four days before national governments are set to water down proposed EU caps on air pollution at a meeting in Brussels. Authorities from European cities most affected by air pollution have been putting pressure on national governments to change course.

But proposed stricter EU pollution limits are set to be blocked by the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland and a handful of other EU countries in a vote on Friday.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, proposed the tighter air pollution limits last year, and the European Parliament have approved these. But national governments have the final say.

On the same day of the pact’s signature, mayors of the French and British capitals published a joint letter to national governments asking them to stick with the more ambitious proposal.

“Estimations by the European Commission suggest that weaker national emissions ceilings would lead to about 16,000 extra deaths in the EU every year,” says the letter, signed by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and the new London mayor Sadiq Khan. “This is not acceptable and we require our governments to follow the bold lead taken by our cities in tackling this issue.”

Expensive fines

However, national governments have said some of the existing targets, called national emissions ceilings, are already impossible to meet for some cities, and are resulting in the countries having to pay hefty fines for noncompliance.

They want flexibility that would allow countries to exceed limits during dry summers or cold winters – as long as they meet an average over three years. They also want lower limits than those proposed by the commission, and for some pollutants – such as methane – to be completely exempted.

Can cities fill the void?

Environmental campaign group EEB says the watered-down limits would be a step backward for the EU. Louise Duprez, a campaigner with EEB, says that while she welcomes the Amsterdam Pact initiative, she does not think cities can tackle air pollution on their own.

“Air pollution doesn’t respect borders,” Duprez says. “European action is essential to stop citizens dying prematurely and contracting serious diseases.”

“The fact that mayors representing over 20 million citizens have understood this is great news – we hope that national government are listening,” Duprez added.

Eurocities, an association of governments from 39 European countries, says that in the absence of action by national governments, there is a lot cities can do to fill the void.

“Adopting the Pact of Amsterdam is just a start,” says Johanna Rolland, president of Eurocities and mayor of the French city of Nantes. “What matters now is how we all put our urban agenda into practice.” That includes commitment from the European Commission, she added.

The Pact of Amsterdam is part of the “EU Urban Agenda,” a project spearheaded by the Netherlands, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU. The Dutch, who live in the most urbanized country in the EU, are implementing their own “Dutch Urban Agenda” at the national level.

Source: Cities to EU: If you don′t act on air pollution, we will | Environment | DW.COM | 30.05.2016

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The 20 Worst air polluting cities worldwide 

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

The World Health Organisation has warned that over 80% of people in urban areas around the world are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution with risk greater in lower and middle-income countries.

Air pollution is the greatest environmental risk to health with three million people dying prematurely every year!

And yet, by the looks of these statistics, some countries are marching on with unsustainable practices as if air pollution is not putting life on earth in danger at all.

The highest levels of small and fine particulate pollution (PM10 and PM2.5) at the moment are recorded in South-East Asia and the Mediterranean.

PM refers to particles less than or equal to 10 micrometers in diameter – so small that they can get into the lungs, potentially causing serious health problems. Ten micrometers is less than the width of a single human hair. Coarse dust particles (PM10) are 2.5 to 10 micrometres in diameter, while finer particles (PM2.5) are less than 2.5 to 10 micrometres.

According to the WHO, Onitsha in Nigeria has the highest levels of PM10 worldwide, followed by Peshawar in Pakistan and Zabol in Iran.

The level of PM10 in Onitsha is nearly 30 times the recommended level.

See this shocking chart:

South Africa has been spearheading many green initiatives on the African continent, with the Department of Environmental Affairs this year again promising to continue investing in green economy. Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa says the department of transport’s plan is to make South Africa’s regional airports more self-sufficient through solar energy, and so far, SA has launched its second solar powered airport.

The Department of Tourism too, is on board with the solar power plan. During his Tourism budget speech Minister Derek Hanekom said six iconic SA attractions are in line to get a solar power boost in the next financial year.

Source: The 20 Worst air polluting cities worldwide | Traveller24

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Early exposure to traffic pollution may affect lungs later

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Infants exposed to higher levels of vehicular air pollution more often have problems later on in the small airways near the edges of their lungs, according to a new study.

The finding that early life exposure to air pollutants affects the so-called peripheral airways, “has not been reported before,” said lead author Dr. Erica S. Schultz of the Karolinska Institutet Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden.

“The lungs and airways are exposed to different air pollutants throughout life, but as the lungs are not fully developed at birth, young children are considered to be particularly vulnerable to adverse effects,” she said.

Because the effects are small, they may have little impact on healthy people living in areas with little pollution, Schultz and her coauthors write.

But the findings may be relevant in areas with high pollution levels and for people with respiratory conditions.

The researchers studied roughly 2,400 children recruited between 1994 and 1996 in Sweden for whom they had data on air pollution exposure as infants and lung function as teens. In particular, they studied the “resistance” in the teen’s peripheral airways, or how hard it is to get air through those passages.

The researchers focused on nitrogen oxides in vehicle exhaust and particulate matter from road erosion. They used records of road traffic, meteorological conditions and topography to model pollution levels at residential and school addresses for the kids in the first year of life and for the year prior to their 16th birthdays.

As infant exposure to nitrogen oxides increased by 10 micrograms per cubic meter, teen airway resistance also increased. The association was strongest for boys and for those with asthma at age 16.

Pollution exposure at ages 15 and 16 was not related to lung function, however.

The authors reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that particulate matter did not have a significant relationship with airway resistance.

“An increasing amount of studies demonstrate the importance of airway periphery for lung health,” Schultz told Reuters Health by email. “What´s concerning is that the effect from first year of life seem to be long-lasting although we yet don’t know the full clinical implication of this effect.”

Most teens would not feel any symptoms of their reduced lung function as the effect was small, she said.

Stockholm has relatively low air pollution levels, she said. For more polluted cities, the effects may be greater and cause conditions like asthma, heart attacks, strokes and early death.

“From this study, we cannot say that children with asthma or any other respiratory conditions will become worse from current exposure, even though that has been reported from several other studies,” Schultz said.

But policymakers should take traffic air pollution levels into considerations when planning for housing, schools and daycare centers, she said.

Source: Early exposure to traffic pollution may affect lungs later | Reuters

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Kenya: 14,000 Die Annually in Kenya Due to Air Pollution 

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

More than 14,300 Kenyans die every year from health conditions which can be traced back to indoor air pollution, a new United Nations report has revealed.

Wood and kerosene, which are behind most of the pollution, are still the dominant fuels used by the poor for cooking and lighting in the country.

Pneumonia is one of the biggest killers associated with air pollution and has led to half of all the global deaths associated with air pollution.

The UN report titled “Actions on Air Quality” also revealed that car exhaust fumes contribute to 40 per cent of the particulate matter air pollution in urban areas.

Imported second hand vehicles and frequent traffic jams in urban areas, along with poor vehicle maintenance have exacerbated the air pollution problem in the country.

Motorised transport is one of the fastest growing sectors in Kenya, with an average growth rate of 12 per cent per year for light duty vehicles.

WELL DONE

Mr Rob de Jong, head of the UNEP Transport Unit said that Kenya has made great strides towards containing pollution from car exhaust emissions, but more needs to be done.

“Kenya is among the countries in the world that made a decision to allow only low sulphur fuels would be allowed in,” he said on Tuesday as he launched the report at the UN offices in Gigiri.

Most of the other outdoor emissions are associated with combustion facilities within industries, such as boilers and standby power generators.

Industrial emissions contributes less than 7 per cent of the particulate matter concentration in the atmosphere.

The report revealed that 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.

United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Mr Achim Steiner said many developing countries do not even have the technology to monitor air quality.

NOT AWARE

This means that they may not even be aware of the extent of the problem and are not well placed to come up with policies to deal with the problem.

But some local solutions to the problem of fuel emissions were celebrated in this year’ United Nations Environment Assembly where the report was launched.

For instance, the Ruiru Youth Community Empowerment Program has developed a less-polluting firewood-burning stove that is up to 60 per cent more efficient than traditional open fires common in rural areas.

Source: Kenya: 14,000 Die Annually in Kenya Due to Air Pollution – Report – allAfrica.com

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‘Suggestive evidence’ for link between air pollution and heightened stillbirth risk 

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Tighter curbs on car exhaust and industrial waste and boost in fuel quality needed

There is ‘suggestive evidence’ for a link between air pollution and a heightened risk of stillbirth, indicates a summary of the available data, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

An estimated 2.6 million children worldwide were stillborn at 28 weeks or more in 2015, with the wide geographical variation in prevalence suggesting that most of these deaths were preventable, say the study authors.

To date, two reviews of the available evidence have pointed to a link between air pollution and stillbirth. But the strength of the association found was weak, and further evidence has since emerged, prompting the authors to carry out a systematic review of research published up to 2015.

Thirteen studies were eligible for inclusion in the summary, which found an association between exposure to air pollution–particularly during the third term of pregnancy–and a heightened risk of stillbirth.

Specifically, a 4 ug/m3 increase in exposure to small particulate matter of less than 2.5 in diameter (PM2.5) was associated with a 2% increased risk of stillbirth, while exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM10 and ozone were also linked to a heightened risk.

The researchers say that differences in study design and the type of pollutant assessed, made it impossible to include all 13 studies in the final analysis, leaving three register based studies from the US and Asia.

And as a linked editorial by Dr Marie Pedersen, of the Centre for Epidemiology and Screening, University of Copenhagen, highlights, most of these previous studies were unable to take account of potentially influential factors, such as obesity, infections, alcohol, and occupation and stress, all of which have been associated with an increased risk of stillbirth.

Furthermore, most of the existing evidence relies on air monitoring data, which doesn’t adequately capture variations in levels within the same city.

Despite these caveats, the study authors conclude: “However, the existing evidence is suggestive of causality for air pollution and stillbirth without precise identification of the timing of exposure.”

But they add that further research is needed to strengthen the body of evidence available: “With the limited studies on the relevant topic, our review suggests strong priorities for future research,” they write.

“Stillbirth is one of the most neglected tragedies in global health today, and the existing evidence summarised by [the authors] deserves additional investigation,” writes Dr Pedersen.

“If the evidence of an association between ambient air population and stillbirth is confirmed in future studies, it would be of major public health importance,” she adds.

And she goes on to say that even though the size of the effect seems relatively small, the ubiquitous nature of ambient air pollution exposure suggests that exposure to it might have considerable impact on stillbirth risk at the population level.

Source: ‘Suggestive evidence’ for link between air pollution and heightened stillbirth risk | EurekAlert! Science News

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Air pollution exposure may raise heart disease risk: Study found exposure linked to poorer blood sugar, cholesterol measures 

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Exposure to air pollution can worsen blood sugar levels, cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease, particularly in people with diabetes, according to a new study.

Exposure to air pollution can worsen blood sugar levels, cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease, particularly in people with diabetes, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Cardiovascular and lipid disorders are the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Society’s Endocrine Facts and Figures Report. As of 2011, the total cost of cardiovascular disease nationwide was $320.1 billion. The total includes direct costs of treatment as well as indirect costs such as lost productivity.

Unhealthy cholesterol levels and excess glucose in the bloodstream can put an individual at greater risk of developing heart disease, according to the Hormone Health Network, the Society’s public education arm.

“While air pollution is linked with relatively small changes in cardiometabolic risk factors, the continuous nature of exposure and the number of people affected gives us cause for concern,” said the study’s senior author, Victor Novack, MD, PhD, of Soroka University Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel. “Even small changes in glucose levels and glycemic control can contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.”

The population-based retrospective cohort study examined the effects of air pollution exposure on 73,117 adults living in southern Israel, where levels of particulate matter can escalate due to its location in the global dust belt. To assess air pollution, the researchers used daily satellite data on how much sunlight was blocked by particles in the air — a measurement called aerosol optical depth. By examining this and other weather data, the scientists developed a model that allowed them to estimate daily air pollution exposure for each study participant using their address.

Researchers analyzed the results of more than 600,000 blood samples taken from the study subjects, who were insured by Clalit Health Services between 2003 and 2012. All of the study participants were known smokers or were diagnosed with diabetes, ischemic heart disease, hypertension or dyslipidemia, which occurs when levels of fats in the blood are too high or low.

The study found participants tended to have higher blood sugar levels and a poorer cholesterol profile when they were exposed to higher average levels of air particulates in the preceding three months compared to those exposed to lower levels of air pollutants. Particulate matter exposure was associated with increases in blood glucose, LDL cholesterol levels, and triglycerides, or fats in the blood. Exposure to particulate matter also was linked to lower levels of HDL, or “good,” cholesterol.

The associations were stronger for people with diabetes. However, those who were taking medications other than insulin to treat diabetes experienced a protective effect. This group experienced smaller changes in blood sugar and cholesterol levels following air pollution exposure.

Although air pollution did not have an immediate effect on blood test results taken within as little as seven days of exposure, the researchers found that cumulative exposure over the course of three months was tied to risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

“We found an association between air pollution exposure in the intermediate term and undesirable changes in cholesterol,” said the study’s first author, Maayan Yitshak Sade, MPH, of Ben-Gurion University and Soroka University Medical Center, both in Beer Sheva, Israel. “This suggests that cumulative exposure to air pollution over the course of a lifetime could lead to elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Source: Air pollution exposure may raise heart disease risk: Study found exposure linked to poorer blood sugar, cholesterol measures — ScienceDaily

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