Air pollution ‘can shrink middle-aged brains’

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Middle-aged and older adults who breathe polluted air in towns and cities can be at increased risk of dementia and strokes, researchers have warned.

Normal pollution levels – fine particles from traffic fumes, factory and power station emissions and wood fire smoke – in major cities caused hidden brain strokes while shrinking the brain by the equivalent of one year’s worth of ageing, they said.
This “fine particulate matter” with a diameter of 2.5 millionth of a metre, known as PM2.5, travels deep into the lungs and previous research has linked it to strokes and heart attacks.

Now a new study has shown long-term exposure to these airborne pollutants can cause damage to brain structures and impair thinking and memory abilities in middle-aged and older adults.

It found evidence of smaller brain structure and a type of 
“silent” ischemic stroke, resulting from a blockage in the blood vessels supplying the brain, in more than 900 patients taking part in a heart study.

Researchers looked at how far the patients aged over 60 who did not have a stroke or dementia lived from busy roads.

They then used satellite images to assess prolonged exposure to ambient PM2.5.

Dr Elissa Wilker, a researcher in the cardiovascular epidemiology research unit at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston in the US, said: “This is one of the first studies to look at the relationship between ambient air pollution and brain structure. Our findings suggest that air pollution is associated with insidious effects on structural brain ageing, even in dementia and stroke-free individuals.”

The evaluation included total cerebral brain volume, a marker of age-associated brain atrophy; hippocampal volume, which reflects changes in the area of the brain that controls memory; and white matter volume, which can be used as a measure of pathology and ageing.

The study, published in the journal Stroke, found that an increase of only two microgrammes per cubic metre of air in PM2.5, a range commonly observed across US cities, was associated with being more likely to have ischemic stroke and smaller cerebral brain volume, equivalent to approximately one year of brain ageing.

Dr Wilker added: “These results are an important step in helping us learn what is going on in the brain.

“The mechanisms through which air pollution may affect brain ageing remain unclear, but systemic inflammation resulting from the deposit of fine particles in the lungs is likely important.”

Dr Sudha Seshadri, professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, said: “This study shows that for a two microgramme per cubic metre of air increase in PM2.5, a range commonly observed across major US cities, on average participants who lived in more polluted areas had the brain volume of someone a year older than participants who lived in less polluted areas. They also had a 46 per cent higher risk of silent strokes on MRI.

“This is concerning since we know that silent strokes increase the risk of overt strokes and of developing dementia, walking problems and depression. We now plan to look more at the impact of air pollution over a longer period; its effect on more sensitive MRI measures [and] on brain shrinkage over time; and other risks including of stroke and dementia.”

via Air pollution ‘can shrink middle-aged brains’ – The Scotsman.

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

Respro® Masks FAQ: What filter do I need?

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

What filter do I need?

You will need to determine what type of environment you will be using the mask in, a city environment or a countryside environment. Typically, if you are commuting every day with heavy or slow moving traffic, you should use the City™ filter. Although chemical pollutants can be found in the countryside; crop sprays, fertilisers etc., particulates are more likely to pose a potential problem, thus a Sportsta™ filter is likely to be the better option.

For more Frequently Asked Questions,  see Respro® Mask FAQ

Posted in Air Quality | Tagged | Leave a comment

Worried About China’s Air Pollution? The WHO Says Smoky Restaurants Are Even Worse

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Which has the worst air quality: Beijing on a bad air pollution day or a restaurant with smokers?

The answer is the one with the smokers, according to the World Health Organization. The measure of fine, hazardous particulates in the air, known as PM 2.5 because they are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, reaches around 600 when there are just three smokers puffing away in a room, said Bernhard Schwartländer, the World Health Organization’s representative in China at an event Wednesday. Mr. Schwartländer didn’t specify the size of the room. He said that the PM 2.5 level goes up to 1,200 when there are five smokers present and up to 5,000 when there are 20.

The worst days in Beijing reach a PM 2.5 of 500 and the average levels in the city are just under 90, Mr. Schwartländer said.

“I don’t understand,” said Mr. Schwartländer, adding “Why don’t we see the same outcry that we see with the air pollution?” People make documentaries to draw attention to the air problems and wear masks to reduce their exposure, but they don’t draw attention to the harms of smoking and the millions of deaths it causes, he said. Every 30 seconds someone in China dies as a result of tobacco use, he said. Mr. Schwartländer argued there should be more outrage when people smoke near children or are exposed to second-hand smoke, adding, “The only way we can explain is that people simply don’t know.”

The World Health Organization is trying to clear the air by shining a light on the negative health impacts of smoking, just as Beijing prepares to implement its indoor smoking ban on June 1. The citywide ban takes aim at restaurants, bars and other indoor spots and officials can fine offenders 200 yuan (about $33) for individuals and 10,000 yuan for organizations and companies.

The WHO is also tapping celebrities like singer Zhang Liangying and real estate mogulPan Shiyi to  promote the ban and ensure it has advocates. Health experts say they are concerned about the efficacy of the forthcoming ban, which isn’t Beijing’s first.Previous ones failed due to lack of legal enforcement and public support, they say.

Government officials, also at the event Wednesday, conceded that it’ll be hard to stub out the butts. Beijing alone has 4 million smokers, said Fang Laiying, Director General of the Beijing Health and Family Planning Commission. Smokers will be resistant and feel that their own rights are being violated, Mr. Fang said. He said he’s reminding people that the government isn’t taking away their freedom but is instead protecting their right to health.

China is the world’s largest consumer and producer of tobacco, home to more than 300 million smokers and 43% of the world’s cigarette production, according to the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation.

Mr. Pan says he’ll enforce the new rule at his SOHO real estate complexes around the city, which are monolithic office and retail spaces, housing thousands of workers. He didn’t give any explicit details on how. The Beijing government launched this month an account on social messaging app WeChat, encouraging people to report violators and tattle on smokers who are caught in the act by uploading images or videos of them.

Mr. Fang said tattlers will not be financially rewarded, but the government does need help enforcing the ban. “We need buy in,” he said.

via Worried About China’s Air Pollution? The WHO Says Smoky Restaurants Are Even Worse – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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

Traffic emissions may pollute one in three Canadian homes

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution could be spreading up to three times farther than thought, contributing to varying levels of air quality across cities, a trio of recently published studies from a team of engineers has found. One in three Canadians, and half of all Torontonians, lives within 250 meters of at least one major roadway. Poor air quality from traffic pollution is associated with a number of health issues.

A trio of recently published studies from a team of University of Toronto engineers has found that air pollution could be spreading up to three times farther than thought–contributing to varying levels of air quality across cities.

Past research on air pollution from vehicle tailpipes has shown poor air quality anywhere between 100 to 250 metres of major roadways.

But in a paper published in the recent edition of the journal Atmospheric Pollution Research, U of T chemical engineer Greg Evans (ChemE) and his partners at Environment Canada have found that concentrations of pollutants from traffic are still double at a distance of 280 metres downwind from highway 400 north of Toronto.

One in three Canadians, and half of all Torontonians, lives within 250 meters of at least one major roadway. These roads, says Evans, range from 10-lane highways to most four-lane streets with steady traffic.

“We used to think that living near a major road meant that you lived near a lot of air pollution,” says Evans. “But what we’re finding is that it’s not that simple, someone living right on a major road in the suburbs may not be exposed to as much pollution as someone living downtown on a side street near many major roads.”

In the same study, Evans demonstrated that for somebody living near multiple roads, they could be exposed to up to ten times more pollutants than if they didn’t live near any major roads.

“It used to be that we measured air quality on a regional or city scale,” says Evans. “But now we’re starting to understand that we need to measure air quality on a more micro scale, especially around major roadways.”

According to Health Canada, poor air quality from traffic pollution is associated with a number of health issues, such as asthma in children and other respiratory diseases, heart disease, cancer, and increased rates of premature death in adults. The Canadian Medical Association attributes 21,000 premature deaths each year in Canada to air pollution. A separate study published last month also linked traffic pollution to delayed cognitive development in children.

Lab in a truck

Throughout 2014, the research team travelled the streets of Toronto measuring vehicle emissions from a mobile lab that resembles a Canada Post mail truck.

“One of the aspects of our work that’s unique is that we’re using real-time instruments to make measurements in seconds,” says Evans. “You have to do the measurements right there, right away, or the exhaust will be gone.”

The team’s findings suggest that people living or spending time near major roadways could be exposed to elevated levels of a dangerous chemical brew of ultrafine particles, volatile organic compounds, black carbon and other pollutants.

“The ultrafine particles are particularly troubling,” says Evans. “Because they are over 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, they have a greater ability to penetrate deeper within the lung and travel in the body.”

On a typical summer day in Toronto, Evans’ instruments measure approximately 20,000 ultrafine particles in each cubic centimetre of air. This means that for every average breath, Torontonians are inhaling 10 million of these nano-sized particles. These numbers increases to 30,000 and 15 million in the winter, when there is more stagnant air and less evaporation of the compounds.

25% of cars causing 90% of pollution

A second paper by Evans and colleagues, published in the March 2015 edition of the journal Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, suggests that a small number of older or “badly tuned” cars and trucks produce the majority of vehicle pollution.

The study made on-the-spot measurements of 100,000 vehicles as they drove past air-sampling probes of the main laboratory on College Street, one of Toronto’s many major roadways.

Evans and team found that one-quarter of the vehicles on the road produced:

95% of black carbon (or “soot”),

93% of carbon monoxide,

and 76% of volatile organic compounds such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, some of which are known-carcinogens

“The most surprising thing we found was how broad the range of emissions was,” says Evans. “As we looked at the exhaust coming out of individual vehicles, we saw so many variations. How you drive, hard acceleration, age of the vehicle\e, how the car is maintained–these are things we can influence that can all have an effect on pollution.”

A vehicle emissions map of Toronto

A third paper, due out in the June 2015 edition of the journal Atmospheric Environment, looks at variations in traffic pollution throughout Toronto, evaluating how exposure to largely unexplored, unregulated ultrafine particles varies across the city.

Evans is currently working with Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and Metro Vancouver to design, test and install new air quality measurement stations around the cities of Toronto and Vancouver. These stations will support enhanced monitoring of the air quality health index during this summer’s Pan Am games in Toronto. More broadly, this research will provide a basis for future near road air quality monitoring in cities across Canada so as to get a more accurate portrayal of the exposure of Canadians to traffic pollution.

Evans and team hope that their research may someday lead to policy changes that could help better target the small number of vehicles that pollute the most, as well as to better decide where to build schools, hospitals, daycares, seniors residences and other structures to protect people who are especially vulnerable to air pollution.

via Traffic emissions may pollute one in three Canadian homes — ScienceDaily.

Posted in Air Quality, USA & Canada | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Central, Western China Have Worst Air Pollution, Greenpeace Says

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

China’s central and western regions had the worst air pollution in the nation during the first quarter, according to Greenpeace East Asia.

Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan were among the 10 worst-polluted provinces in the three months ended March 31, Greenpeace said in an e-mailed statement.

The provinces are areas of the country where local governments have yet to enact stricter pollution controls.

The findings are based on the environmental organization’s analysis of air quality data from 360 Chinese cities during the period. Henan and Hubei have surpassed even Hebei, which is “notorious” for its pollution, according to Greenpeace.

Fighting pollution has taken center stage as Chinese politicians confront the task of starting to clean up the smog enveloping the nation’s biggest cities. President Xi Jinping has pledged an “iron hand” to protect the environment.

The government’s pollution control has improved air quality modestly in certain cities such as Beijing and along the coast, Greenpeace said.

The improvements are “the only silver lining in a situation where 90 percent of cities still record levels of pollution that far exceed China’s own air quality standards,” said Zhang Kai, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.

Beijing was China’s fourth-most polluted city in the first quarter, though the concentration of PM2.5 — fine particulates that pose the greatest risk to human health — improved more than 13 percent from a year ago, according to Greenpeace.

Average PM2.5 levels in the cities under study reached 66 micrograms per cubic meter, almost double the national standard of 35, it said.

via Central, Western China Have Worst Air Pollution, Greenpeace Says – Bloomberg Business.

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

Breathing poison in the world’s most polluted city

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Saharan dust, traffic fumes and smog from Europe may be clogging up London’s air at present – and causing alarm in the newspapers – but in the world’s most polluted city London’s air would be considered unusually refreshing. That city is Delhi, the Indian capital, where air quality reports now make essential reading for anxious residents.

In London last week, the most dangerous particles – PM 2.5 – hit a high of 57 – that’s nearly six times recommended limits.

Here in Delhi, we can only dream of such clean air.

Our reading for these minute, carcinogenic particles, which penetrate the lungs, entering straight into the blood stream – is a staggering 215 – 21 times recommended limits. And that’s better than it’s been all winter.

Until a few weeks ago, PM 2.5 levels rarely dipped below 300, which some here have described as an “air-pocalypse”.

Like the rest of the world, those of us in Delhi believed for years that Beijing was the world’s most polluted city.

But last May, the World Health Organization announced that our own air is nearly twice as toxic.

The result, we’re told, is permanent lung damage, and 1.3 million deaths annually. That makes air pollution, after heart disease, India’s second biggest killer.

And yet, it’s only in the past two months as India’s newspapers and television stations have begun to report the situation in detail that we’ve been gripped, like many others, with a sense of acute panic.

It’s a little bit like being told you’re living next to an active volcano that might erupt at any moment.

We began checking the air quality index obsessively.

Then, we rushed out to buy pollution masks, riding around in our car looking like highway robbers. But our three-year-old wouldn’t allow one anywhere near her face.

Our son only wore his for a day, and only because I told him he looked like Spider-Man.

Despite our alarm, many Delhi-ites reacted with disdain. “It’s just dust from the desert,” some insisted. “Nothing a little homeopathy can’t solve,” others said.

But we weren’t convinced.

When we heard that certain potted plants improve indoor air quality, we rushed to the nursery to snap up areca palms, and a rather ugly, spiky plant with the unappealing moniker, mother-in-law’s tongue.

But on arrival, the bemused proprietor informed us that the American embassy had already purchased every last one.

In any case, we calculated that to make a difference, we needed a minimum of 50 plants.

“We could get rid of the sofa to make room for them,” my husband offered.

Instead, we borrowed an air pollution probe from a friend to work out what progress, if any, we’d made.

Switching it on, our P-M 2.5 levels registered an off-the-charts 44,000.

My husband scratched his head, consulting the manual.

“This says 3,000 is hazardous.”

“It must be broken,” I said.

But it wasn’t, so we had to call in the experts.

One afternoon, a young man turned up with a small, free-standing air filter, specially modified for Delhi’s dust. He pressed a button, which activated something called a “plasma cluster”.

After 20 minutes, the numbers on our air monitor began to drop… precipitously.

My husband and I watched, mouth agape, as the readings went down from 44,000, to 20,000, then 11,000. Eventually, the probe settled around the 1,000 mark.

That’s still worryingly high by global standards… and that’s only the air inside our home. There’s nothing we can do about the air outside.

The government has announced that it will install more air quality monitors in Delhi and that it will ban diesel-belching vehicles more than a decade old.

But that’s a drop in the ocean compared to India’s pro-growth economic policies, which still rely heavily on subsidised, dirty diesel.

The trouble is on many days, you can’t see the pollution.

Right now outside my window is an intensely blue sky filled with flocks of lime green parakeets and frangipani trees just beginning to unfurl their waxy, fragrant blossoms and I find myself wondering if it isn’t perfectly OK to take my kids out to play football.

But in the past few months, at least a dozen families we know have moved away, either to cleaner towns and cities, or outside of India.

And although I’m still lulled by the reassurances of long-time residents – “Don’t worry – it’s nothing,” they chide – I am beginning to wonder if it isn’t time to think about moving too.

Compared to Delhi right now, London and even Beijing are looking like pretty good options.

via Breathing poison in the world’s most polluted city – BBC News.

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

Study shows air pollution in Kaushambi ‘alarmingly high’

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution in Kaushambi is alarmingly high, according to a study by the UP Pollution Control Board’s (UPPCB). The level of suspended particulate matter (SPM), released by local factories, is higher than permissible limits, while oxides of sulphur and nitrogen – byproducts of burning fossil fuels and vehicular emissions – are within it.

The results of the analysis, conducted by UPPCB on April 9 and 10, were disclosed on Thursday on the request of Kaushambi’s RWAs.

The Kaushambi Apartments’ RWAs (KARWA) had earlier complained to various authorities about rising pollution in Kaushambi due to its proximity to bus depots and a landfill site.

For the study, all the air samples collected by the board were from within the township. Average levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5 – ultrafine particulate matter with sizes less than 10 microns and 2.5 microns respectively – were found to be many times higher than permissible limits.

“Compared to the average figures for Ghaziabad as a whole, the levels are lower in Kaushambi. Oxides of sulphur and nitrogen are well within permissible limits and pose no imminent danger,” said a senior UPPCB official.

Extreme SPM levels in the air have had residents worried, because of a high incidence of respiratory diseases in the area. They had mailed an application to NGT, demanding appointment of a local commissioner to oversee the implementation of its orders regarding ban on diesel vehicles older than 10 years.

“A number of residents have complained of respiratory diseases. Doctors attribute it to high levels of air pollution in Kaushambi. Local authorities, including the municipal corporation and the district administration, should be held liable if they fail to rein in pollution-causing factories, which have been found to be the biggest culprits,” said KARWA president Vinay Kumar Mittal.

via Study shows air pollution in Kaushambi ‘alarmingly high’ – The Times of India.

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

Stroke from poor air quality

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution and smog have health consequences for affected populations ranging from respiratory problems to death. Fine particulate matter especially has become the focus in recent years, because it increases the probability of dying from respiratory or cardiovascular disease. In addition, the risk of stroke is increased, as shown by new research.

Air pollution and smog have health consequences for affected populations ranging from respiratory problems to death. Fine particulate matter especially has become the focus in recent years, because it increases the probability of dying from respiratory or cardiovascular disease. In addition, the risk of stroke is increased, as shown by Barbara Hoffmann and her coauthors in a recent study in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 195-201). In a population of the German Ruhr region, she investigated how often stroke and cardiovascular disease occurred, as well as how much particulate matter and noise inhabitants were exposed to.

More than 4400 residents of Bochum, Essen, and Mülheim an der Ruhr participated in the study. Participants were selected over the time period from 2000 to 2003, and were aged between 45 and 74 years. Information regarding stroke or cardiovascular disease occurrence and/or associated mortality was collected annually. In addition, the authors evaluated exposure to particulate matter and noise according to participants’ place of residence. The results indicate that stroke is more likely to occur with increased air pollution. The results for coronary events are less clear, and exposure to noise pollution showed no clear effect. The authors point out, however, that the data indicates a tendency for increased risk of cardiovascular disease through particulate matter exposure.

via Stroke from poor air quality — ScienceDaily.

Posted in Air Quality, Europe, Germany, Health Effects of Air Pollution | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment