Air pollution experts call for scrappage scheme for diesel cars and boilers 

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Report outlines moves that would cut pollution from road transport and gas combustion in London and increase life expectancy

Scrappage schemes for diesel cars and boilers, and allowing only the cleanest buses to drive on key polluted roads are among measures proposed by experts to cut pollution and help people live longer.

The moves to cut pollution from road transport and gas combustion in London could increase the average life expectancy of people born in the city in 2025 by more than a month, leading to economic benefits of £600m a year, they said.

A report by King’s College London and thinktank Policy Exchange said the capital faced a significant air pollution challenge 60 years on from the Clean Air Act and needed “an equally robust response” as that piece of groundbreaking legislation.

It calls on the next London mayor to champion a 10-point plan which includes measures to restrict the most polluting vehicles from entering the capital, cleaning up the taxi fleet and completing the rollout of low-emission buses across the city.

The most polluted roads such as Oxford Street should be declared “clean bus corridors”, using only the cleanest buses and rerouting some services, the report said.

The next mayor also needs to promote electric vehicles and car clubs, push for tighter emissions limits on diesel vehicles and back calls for an increase in taxes on new diesel vehicles and a diesel scrappage scheme to trade in old polluting cars and vans.

There is also a need to prevent decentralised power stations such as diesel, gas and biomass plants being built where they could affect London’s air quality, and to tackle emissions from household boilers by creating a cashback scheme to replace old polluting units.

The report, published ahead of the mayoral elections in May, suggests that the combination of policies would ensure legal targets for nitrogen dioxide pollution were met across almost all of the capital by 2025.

Professor Frank Kelly, director of the Environmental Research Group, King’s College London, said: “It is possible to bring the most polluted parts of London – such as Oxford Street – within legal air quality limits.

“However this will require a concerted effort both by City Hall and national government to reduce emissions from road transport and other sources of pollution.’

Richard Howard, head of environment and energy at Policy Exchange, said: “Londoners are becoming increasingly concerned about poor air quality. The time has come for action not words. The next Mayor of London needs to deliver an ambitious set of policies to clean up London’s air.’

The study comes after environmental lawyers ClientEarth announced they were taking the government back to court over a failure to take action to ensure legal air quality standards were met across the UK.

James Thornton, chief executive of ClientEarth, said: “This important report should be required reading for all of the mayoral candidates. This public health crisis will require strong action from the new mayor, who should adopt these policies as a minimum.

“London’s toxic air undermines its status as a world-class city. This report is a welcome attempt to change that and help Londoners breathe more easily.”

Source: Air pollution experts call for scrappage scheme for diesel cars and boilers | Environment | The Guardian

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

How Prenatal Pollution Exposure Can Lead to Behavior Problems in Children 

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

The air that expecting moms breathe can have lasting effects on their children, and the latest study details how

It’s no secret that polluted air — from cigarette smoke, cars and burning heating oil — can have a negative impact on our health. But there’s even stronger evidence now about how that air pollution can affect even growing babies in the womb.

In a study published in theJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, researchers led by Amy Margolis at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health looked for connections between how much exposure an expectant mother has to levels of a primary air pollutant, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and measurements of children’s behavior and emotional states from age three to 11 years. In previous studies, the group showed that higher levels of maternal PAHs at birth were linked to higher rates of anxiety, depression and attention disorders in children at age six and seven years.

In the current study, which follows the same group of children until age 11, the researchers focused on finding an explanation for the connection between PAHs and behavioral issues. They evaluated the children on a standard test of emotional self regulation that captures aggression, impulsiveness, and intensity of emotions. Other studies have linked this ability to self regulate to social competence and the ability to interact with others, a fundamental aspect of many emotional and social behaviors.

Source: How Prenatal Pollution Exposure Can Lead to Behavior Problems in Children | TIME

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

Dust sets off Timaru’s first high air pollution night for 2016 

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Dust – not smoke – appears to have triggered Timaru’s first high air pollution night in 2016.

The city recorded its first high air pollution night on March 10, with a PM10 concentration of 55 recorded at Anzac Square.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) measures dirty air in PM10, particulate matter less than 10 micrometres in diameter. Readings higher than 50 are considered to be high pollution levels.

ECan principal strategy advisor Cat White said the concentrations recorded in Timaru were mostly made up of coarse particles and were “very unlikely” to be from burnoffs or home heating.

“We can’t say for certain what the source was, but it’s most likely to be dust picked up by strong winds,” White said.

“This happens outside winter when there is a strong northwest wind. Most high pollution nights are in winter from home heating.”

Timaru’s first high air pollution night comes six months before the target for high pollution nights is reduced.

White said the target for three high air pollution nights a year would begin after winter 2016.

“Under the Government’s National Environmental Standards targets, Timaru’s target for three high pollution nights a year begins after this winter – from September this year.”

While stubble-burning and outdoor burning of green waste in rural areas had been allowed under the existing Canterbury Air Plan, stricter rules around these activities were proposed under the Proposed Air Plan.

The Proposed Air Plan which becomes operative later this year will introduce new conditions to meet when burning green waste in rural areas.

It also proposes the requirement of a resource consent for stubble-burning inside buffer zones around the towns of Timaru and Ashburton.

Other rules will include requiring farmers to have a Smoke Management Plan for stubble-burning taking place outside of buffer zones, and for any other large scale burn which lasts for more than three days.

ECan is also working closely with woodburner owners in Timaru to show people how to burn better and encourage them to get better burners which are clean-burning.

“We have made some progress in the last year, reducing the number of high-pollution nights from 41 in 2014 to 26 last year, and we know there is a lot more to do to reduce the number down further.

“As part of our summer air programme, we have, since the beginning of summer, been visiting users/owners of wood burners and open fires and talking about how they can achieve a brighter burning fire.”

All open fires are prohibited in Timaru.

Compliant woodburners can still be used until they are 15 years old.

If a compliant burner reaches 15 years of age before 2019, it can be replaced with another compliant woodburner, but after 2019 it will have to be replaced with an ultra low emission woodburner.

Source: Dust sets off Timaru’s first high air pollution night for 2016 | Stuff.co.nz

Posted in Air Quality, Australia & Oceania | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

London parents see toxic air as ‘the biggest health threat to their children’ 

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Mothers revealed their fear over toxic air in London today with seven out of 10 admitting they worry about its impact on their children.

A YouGov poll found that parents in the capital now see air pollution as the biggest health threat.

The stark findings are published as the Standard launches Clean London — a series of hard-hitting reports on dirty air and ways to tackle it.

Experts now blame air pollution for a death toll of more than 9,000 a year in the capital.

The survey, commissioned by environmental lawyers ClientEarth, shows 68 per cent of London parents are worried about their children breathing in dirty air.

More women than men highlighted their fears — 71 per cent against 64 per cent. Mothers have told of their concern that as they push buggies along the street, their young children are sitting at the same level as filthy fumes being spewed out by many diesel cars and other vehicles.

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 09.16.32

Scientists have also warned that the lungs of some children are being damaged by air pollution — which in the capital is in breach of EU rules.

In inner London, where pollution peaks are at times among the worst in Europe, 32 per cent of parents are “very worried” about their children breathing dirty air and 43 per cent “fairly worried”.

In the outer city, 25 per cent are “very worried” and 40 per cent “fairly worried”.

ClientEarth has won a Supreme Court battle forcing ministers to redraw plans to cut air pollution.

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 09.17.23

Its chief executive, James Thornton, said it was “no surprise” that parents were so concerned given the health impacts on children living in the capital and going to schools near main roads.

“They have to endure the terrible effects of air pollution across the city year after year, with woeful action from the Government,” he added. The survey also found that 43 per cent of parents rank air pollution as one of the two biggest health threat facing the capital today.

This was followed by stress (29 per cent), poor diet (23) and not doing enough exercise (21).

Drug use came next, on 17 per cent, then alcohol (16), smoking (13) and unprotected sex (four). Wealthier people and those living in inner London were more likely to put air pollution at the top of their public health risks.

Green Party mayoral candidate Sian Berry said that Londoners’ “trust is running out”, with many mothers of young children now “worried sick”, as more information has been revealed about filthy air.

“It’s a terrifying problem, because unlike the deadly smogs that came from coal fires and power stations until the Clean Air Act banished them, we can’t see this modern pollution,” she added.

Labour claims 500,000 people have died due to the failure to meet EU air quality regulations. Sadiq Khan, the party’s candidate for mayor, blamed his adult-onset asthma on dirty air. “I worry about the impact on my daughters’ health,” he added.

His Tory mayoral rival Zac Goldsmith called for the whole of Greater London to be made a pollution-free area, stressing: “We have the technology and most of the tools to achieve that.”

Liberal Democrat candidate Caroline Pidgeon said: “The time for excuses for a lack of real action on air pollution has long passed. Children’s lives are at stake.”

Boris Johnson has taken a series of steps to tackle air pollution, including getting the dirtiest buses and taxis off the road and promising to implement an ultra-low emission zone by 2020.

A City Hall spokeswoman added: “Air quality in London is improving but more needs to be done and this is why we need to see more of the bold measures implemented by the Mayor.”

A spokesman for the Department for Environment said: “Our plans clearly set out how we will improve the UK’s air quality through a new programme of clean air zones, which alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies will create cleaner, healthier air for all.”

YouGov polled 1,015 parents of children aged 18 and under between March 7 and 14.

Source: London parents see toxic air as ‘the biggest health threat to their children’ | London | News | London Evening Standard

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

Indonesia warns of fire risk in haze-prone regions in March-April 

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Indonesia expects dryer than normal weather in several fire and haze-prone regions in western and central Indonesia in March and April, the state weather agency (BMKG) said on Monday, referring to a recent increase in fires and hotspots.

The region suffers every dry season from so-called haze caused by smoldering fires, often set deliberately to clear land for palm oil plantations on Sumatra and Borneo islands.

Fires were particularly bad in 2015 because of a prolonged dry season caused by the El Nino weather pattern, with smoke blanketing neighboring Singapore and Malaysia for weeks and drifting as far north as the Thai capital, Bangkok.

In October, senior government officials sought to divert blame for the fires and choking smog that had cost the country an estimated $16 billion, saying BMKG failed to predict the severity of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

“Riau in March and April has the potential for low rainfall, so the potential for fires is high,” BMKG climatology chief Mulyono Rahadi Prabowo told reporters, referring to the province on the central eastern coast of Sumatra. “Eastern Kalimantan (on the east of the island of Borneo) also needs to be on the alert for forest fires.”

Last week, Riau’s governor declared a state of emergency among efforts to prevent a recurrence of the 2015 haze.

Another official at the weather bureau said there was a 50 percent chance of a La Nina weather pattern affecting Indonesia in the fourth quarter of this year, potentially causing a wetter than usual “dry” season and heavier rainy season.

“Usually commodities that collapse during a wet dry season are sugar and tobacco,” said Nurhayati, who heads the BMKG agriculture climate forecasting division. Indonesia’s coffee, cocoa and palm oil crops are unlikely to be impacted severely by La Nina, she said, while a wetter dry season benefits rice production.

In 2010, Indonesia’s sugar production dropped by about one-third due to La Nina, she said.

Source: Indonesia warns of fire risk in haze-prone regions in March-April | NewsDaily

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

Pigeon patrol takes flight to tackle London’s air pollution crisis 

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

They’ve been driven from Trafalgar square for being a nuisance, derided as rats with wings and maligned as a risk to public health.

But now pigeons could play a small part in helping Londoners overcome one of the capital’s biggest health problems – its illegal levels of air pollution blamed for thousands of deaths a year.

On Monday, a flock of half a dozen racing pigeons were set loose from a rooftop in Brick Lane by pigeon fancier, Brian Woodhouse, with one strapped with a pollution sensor to its back and one with a GPS tracker.

But while the 25g sensor records the nitrogen dioxide produced by the city’s diesel cars, buses, and trucks and tweets it at anyone who asks for a reading, its real purpose – and the use of the pigeons – is to raise awareness.

“It is a scandal. It is a health and environmental scandal for humans – and pigeons. We’re making the invisible visible,” said Pierre Duquesnoy, whowon a London Design Festival award for the idea last year.

“Most of the time when we talk about pollution people think about Beijing or other places, but there are some days in the year when pollution was higher and more toxic in London than Beijing, that’s the reality.”

He said he was inspired by the use of pigeons in the first and second world wars to deliver information and save lives, but they were also a practical way of taking mobile air quality readings and beating London’s congested roads. They fly relatively low, at 100-150ft, and fast, at speeds up to 80mph.

“There’s something about taking what is seen as a flying rat and reversing that into something quite positive,” said Duquesnoy, who is creative director at marketing agency DigitasLBI.

Gary Fuller, an air quality expert at King’s College London, said it was the first time he had heard of urban animals being put to such use.

“It’s great that unemployed pigeons from Trafalgar Square are being put to work. Around 15 years ago tests were done on around 150 stray dogs in Mexico City, showing the ways in which air pollution was affecting lungs and heart health. But this is the first time that I’ve heard of urban wild animals being used to carry sensors to give us a picture of the air pollution over our heads.”

The release of the pigeons for three days this week, dubbed the Pigeon Air Patrol, came as moderate to high pollution affected much of the city, with Battersea recording ‘very high’, the top of the scale.

Elsewhere in the UK, Stockton-on-tees and Middlesbrough recorded high pollution readings and the forecast is for moderate and possibly high pollution in urban areas in northern England and Scotland on Tuesday. Other areas will have low pollution levels.

Source: Pigeon patrol takes flight to tackle London’s air pollution crisis | Environment | The Guardian

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

Mexico City Issues First Air Pollution Alert Since 2005 

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ozone levels were almost twice the acceptable limit

Older and more heavily polluting vehicles were required to stay off the road in Mexico City on Tuesday in an attempt to improve air quality after the government declared an air pollution alert on Monday, its first in 11 years.

Ozone levels in the city reached nearly twice the acceptable limit, the Associated Press reported on Monday night.

A recent court order relaxed a rule that had discouraged the use of cars more than eight years old. Environmental activists have argued that changing the rule contributed to more cars on the road and higher smog levels, the AP reported.

Officials recommended that residents stay indoors and limit outdoor exercise while the air pollution alert is in effect.

Source: Mexico City Issues First Air Pollution Alert Since 2005 | TIME

Posted in Air Quality, Latin America, Mexico | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mexico City alarm bells ring over worst air pollution in a decade 

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Mexico City’s government has advised people to stay indoors and restricted traffic due to air pollution. Ozone levels have been measured at nearly twice the acceptable limit, triggering the first alert in over a decade.

Authorities said Monday that the alert stemmed from an “extraordinary increase” in ozone concentration due to the presence of a high pressure weather system and intense solar radiation around greater Mexico City. The Mexican capital is home to more than 20 million inhabitants.

An advisory posted by the city authorities recommended that people stay off the streets between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., refrain from vigorous exercise in the open and curb sporting activities, in order to avoid respiratory problems.

The last time a a phase one alert was issued for particle pollution was on New Year’s Day 2005. Then, air quality was likely affected by heavy use of firecrackers, a city official said. Ozone, which is a key ingredient of air pollution, is a form of oxygen created by the reaction of sunlight with air containing other pollutants such as hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide.

Altitude

Ozone is a key ingredient of smog. The last alert issued for ozone was January 18, 2002.

Geography is also a factor. The capital city lies about 7,350 feet (2,240 meters) above sea level in a high mountain valley, where the surrounding mountain range can trap pollutants.

Environmentalists also point to a recent court order that has allowed older cars in the city. Earlier regulations barring vehicles older than eight years old had curbed gross polluters. But the court’s order relaxing the rule has allowed more polluting cars back on the streets.

Heightened ozone levels can cause breathing difficulties and worsen heart disease. Children and the elderly are especially at risk.

Source: Mexico City alarm bells ring over worst air pollution in a decade | News | DW.COM | 15.03.2016

Posted in Air Quality, Latin America, Mexico | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment