Air pollution cost men sperm count

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Small quantities of chemicals as a result of air pollution inhaled by men in developing countries Including Uganda interfere with their ability to father children, researchers have said.

Prof Shem Wandiga, a researcher at the University of Nairobi said the effect of air pollution is being felt in some parts of Kenya (Westlands, Uthiru, and Kikuyu).

“Male sperm count has gone down in some parts. We are concerned about air pollution because we want to leave the world the way we found it,” he noted.

He was addressing journalists and experts from Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa and India who were attending the first India-Africa Dialogue and Media workshop on air quality and mobility Eastlands Hotel in Nairobi.

The one-day workshop was organised by leading Indian think tank, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Nairobi-based Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (Mesha) Kenya Chapter.

He said that air pollution is one of the major and most prevalent forms of environmental pollution worldwide.

The researcher said that experts are worried that children born, raised and living in areas which are heavily polluted have little chance reaching the age of 50 with their lungs.

He explained that the chemical emitted from the vehicles are acidic and corrosive which increases cases of asthma and deadly lung diseases.

Wandiga mentioned industrial activities and emissions, vehicles, construction and agricultural activities, incineration and wind-blown dust are some of the main contributors of hazardous air pollutants.

Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director, Center for Science and Environment said over 176,000 people die annually of air pollution in Africa. According to the Global Burden of Diseases, the deaths are due to outdoor air pollution.

Diseases caused by outdoor air pollution include: ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer and acute lower respiratory infections in children.

This is less than Europe at 279,000 deaths, but Africa needs to be preventive and precautionary, Anumita noted.
She said that there are several indicative results from studies that signal a serious public health. The UN Economic Commission of Africa has estimated that the cost of air pollution in a number of African cities can be as high as 2.7 per cent of GDP.

Rob Jong, the head of Transport Unit, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said that over 49,000 premature deaths occur annually due to air pollution.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report around 7 million people died in 2012 due to air pollution.
“This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk,” the report stated.

The new estimates are not only based on more knowledge about the diseases caused by air pollution, but also upon better assessment of human exposure to air pollutants through the use of improved measurements and technology. This has enabled scientists to make a more detailed analysis of health risks from a wider demographic spread that now includes rural as well as urban areas.

Amanda Ngabirano, a Mekerere University Lecturer in the department of Architecture called for the improvement of public transport in major cities to reduce traffic jam.

She submitted that a multi-modality and relevant transport planning as well as integrating land use would solve traffic jams and transport related problems in developing countries including Uganda.

via Air pollution cost men sperm count.

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

Air Pollution Slows Cognitive Development In Children Due To Brain Inflammation

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Schools that are located near busy roads may be more dangerous than remote schools due to the increased levels of air pollution generated by passing cars, a new study finds.

Toxic chemicals found in the air pose a growing concern for scientists studying brain health, especially among adolescents. Experts call them neurotoxicants, and they’ve been linked with a higher risk of suicide, autism, and the myriad direct physical effects of breathing in harmful air, such as asthma and diseases of the lungs.

“From animal studies we know that ultrafine particles cross the blood brain barrier, interact with the microglial cells, which in turn affects neurons,” said Dr. Jordi Sunyer, lead author of the recent study from the University of Barcelona. This can result in chronic low-grade brain inflammation, he added, which delays brain maturation.

To better understand how air pollution could affect kids’ brain development, Sunyer and his colleagues from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) collected data on 2,715 children ages 7 to 10, who attended 39 schools in Spain. Every three months for a year, the researchers issued tests that were designed for the kids’ cognitive abilities in three domains: working memory, superior working memory, and attentiveness. In other words, they wanted to check how strong their brains were.

Comparing kids from heavily trafficked schools and those less bogged down by pollution, the CREAL team found an 11.5 percent increase in working memory at the clean-air schools, but only a 7.4 percent increase at the highly polluted schools. The findings suggest vast room for improvement, Sunyer says. Both parents and local governments can take steps to making sure an area stays pollutant-free and ensuring a child’s brain develops at a normal rate.

Choosing a more active form of transportation, such as walking or riding a bike, can go a long way toward increasing overall health and avoiding adding to the pollution. More on the technological side of things, school buses can install particle filters and stay conscious to turn the engine off at stoplights. Adds Sunyer, “if classrooms are oriented to the busy roads, they could capture indoor air from an opposite origin,” which would make the room cleaner.

Ideally, improvements would start higher up, the researchers claim. Parents and children can take certain precautions and make changes to their lifestyles, but ultimately, a cleaner neighborhood is the most sustainable solution. “Policy should set plans for improving the air quality in areas with high traffic related air pollution,” Sunyer said. “These plans necessarily require reduction of traffic.”

At stake could be a slew of behavioral, intellectual, and social problems spurred on by rising levels of nearby pollution. As the authors explain, this could have life-long effects that limit children’s achievement as they age. New schools should take these findings into account when deciding where to break ground.

via Air Pollution Slows Cognitive Development In Children Due To Brain Inflammation.

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

Air pollution will kill thousands in Europe, EEA warns

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

EU environment watchdog blames governments for failing to act on air pollution warnings saying it will lead to premature deaths across the countries

Hundreds of thousands of Europeans will suffer a premature death in the next two decades as the result of governments’ failure to act on air pollution, Europe’s environmental watchdog has warned.

In 2011, the latest year for which figures have been reliably collated, more than 400,000 are estimated to have died prematurely as a result of breathing toxic fumes, despite recent improvements in some countries

The UK has been one of the worst offenders, with government figures showing that European Union regulations on air quality will not be met in cities including London, Birmingham and Leeds until 2030.

Europe is also faring badly on other environmental indicators, including the loss of biodiversity to intensive farming and urbanisation, and the poor state of many inland freshwater systems, according to the State of the Environment report for 2015, published by the European Environment Agency on Tuesday.

There have been some successes: coastal water pollution has been cleared up in many regions in the last two decades, as untreated sewage is no longer allowed to foul bathing beaches, and greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced overall. But the EEA warned that although on areas such as industrial pollution, air pollution and waste management the EU was showing good progress, the outlook for two decades from now was increasingly grim on all environmental fronts.

The agency rated key environmental indicators on a “traffic lights” system, rating them red, amber or green for how well they are being dealt with currently, and how that is likely to change in the next 20 years as current and prospective policies take a longer term effect. None of the 20 key indicators were rated as “green” in its 20 year-plus forecast.

In its five-yearly report, the EEA also urged member state governments to take a more “joined-up” view of environmental issues. The study identified as a key problem the lack of coordination of regulation intended to address different aspects of environmental damage, such as water systems and biodiversity.

This can sometimes lead to trade-offs between good and bad effects. For instance, for more than a decade EU member states have tended to encourage the rise of diesel vehicles, with favourable tax regimes and pricing structures.

This has been one factor in bringing down greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels used for road transport, as diesel engines are more fuel-efficient than their petrol counterparts. But it has had an unintended consequence in the form of greater air pollution, because diesel engines spew out more particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide than petrol-driven cars, giving rise to breathing difficulties in vulnerable people, such as children and older citizens.

Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the EEA, called for a “systemic” approach to protecting Europe’s environment. “It is not enough to look at these issues in isolation,” he told the Guardian. “They are interconnected and the way we study them and measure them and deal with them must be interconnected too.”

Although member states are currently doing well on bringing down greenhouse gas emissions, this will be a problem in 20 years’ time, the report found. Ecosystems across the continent are in dire straits, with terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity rated as “red” based on current trends, and in the outlook for two decades hence. Land use and the health of the soil receive a similar “red” warning, as does the impact that climate change is likely to have on ecosystems.

Bruyninckx said: “Our analysis shows that European policies have successfully tackled many environmental challenges over the years. But it also shows that we continue to harm the natural systems that sustain our prosperity. While living within planetary limits is an immense challenge, there are huge benefits in responding to it. Fully using Europe’s capacity to innovate could make us truly sustainable and put us at the frontier of science and technology, creating new industries and a healthier society.”

via Air pollution will kill thousands in Europe, EEA warns | Environment | The Guardian.

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

EPA tightening rules on air pollution

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Environmental regulations on the country’s emissions of air pollutants will be stricter in light of deteriorating air quality, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Monday.

Starting next year, supervision of factories planning for expansions will be tighter, including demands for data on possible increases in particles 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter (PM2.5), according to the EPA.

PM2.5 particles are considered particularly dangerous because they are usually made up of substances like heavy metals that are more toxic and can travel deeper into the human lungs than larger particulates.

In addition, the new regulations will examine emissions at maximum levels instead of average levels to guard public health more thoroughly, the EPA said.

Different PM2.5 control regions will also be set up, based on data collected by the administration over the past three years, said Huang Wei-ming (黃偉鳴), section chief of the EPA’s Department of Air Quality Protection.

The western half of Taiwan proper, prone to air pollution from China as cold air masses from there often carry pollutants across the Taiwan Strait, is likely to be the top control area in a three-tier system, he said.

There will also be a clearer understanding of how different areas are under threat from different pollutants, the EPA said.

via EPA tightening rules on air pollution | Society | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS.

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

Respro® Masks FAQ: Can the mask be washed?

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Can the mask be washed?

It is recommended that you wash the neoprene shell of the mask every month under normal use. To do this it is necessary to remove the filter and the valve first. Although spare valves and filters are available from your retailer, please be careful not to misplace any of the components during maintenance.

Place the filter and valves in a pan of freshly boiled water (remove pan from heat source before putting filter in) and let it cool down. Remove filter unit and allow to stand dry.

This will remove facial oils that may build up over a period of continuous use and ensure that it is hygienically clean. This procedure will also remove some of the particulates and organic vapour that will be present within the Charcoal structure of the filter or tissue salt build in the valves.

If the mask cover (shell) requires washing this should be done by carefully removing the filter assembly and then washing it in warm soapy water and then left to dry naturally.

For more FAQ,  see Respro® Mask FAQ or visit our YouTube channel youtube.com/ResproMasks

All Respro® products are available from our website respro.com

Respro® will ship your order to anywhere on the planet free of charge.

Posted in Air Quality | Tagged | Leave a comment

Documentary on Air Pollution Grips China

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Millions of Chinese, riveted and outraged, watched a 104-minute documentary video over the weekend that begins with a slight woman in jeans and a white blouse walking on to a stage dimly lit in blue. As an audience looks on somberly, the woman, Chai Jing, displays a graph of brown-red peaks with occasional troughs.

“This was the PM 2.5 curve for Beijing in January 2013, when there were 25 days of smog in that one month,” explains Ms. Chai, a former Chinese television reporter, referring to a widely used gauge of air pollution. Back then, she says, she paid little attention to the smog engulfing much of China and affecting 600 million people, even as her work took her to places where the air was acrid with fumes and dust.

“But,” Ms. Chai says with a pause, “when I returned to Beijing, I learned that I was pregnant.”

She has said her concerns about what the filthy air would mean for her infant daughter’s health prompted her to produce the documentary, “Under the Dome.” It was published online Saturday, and swiftly inspired an unusually passionate eruption of public and mass media discussion. The newly appointed minister of environmental protection even likened the documentary to “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s landmark exposé of chemical pollution.

“I’d never felt afraid of pollution before, and never wore a mask no matter where,” Ms. Chai, 39, says in the video. “But when you carry a life in you, what she breathes, eats and drinks are all your responsibility, and then you feel the fear.”

By early Monday morning, “Under the Dome” had been played more than 20 million times on Youku, a popular video-sharing site, and it was also being viewed widely on other sites.

Tens of thousands of viewers posted comments about the video, many of them parents who identified with Ms. Chai’s concern for her daughter. Some praised her for forthrightly condemning the industrial interests, energy conglomerates and bureaucratic hurdles that she says have obstructed stronger action against pollution. Others lamented that she was able to do so only after leaving her job with the state-run China Central Television.

“Support Chai Jing or those like her who stand up like this to speak the truth,” said one of the comments — which exceeded 25,000 by Sunday afternoon — on Youku. “In this messed-up country that’s devoid of law, cold-hearted, numb and arrogant, they’re like an eye-grabbing sign that shocks the soul.”

The documentary is part science lecture, part investigative exposé and part memoir, and Ms. Chai’s own story has become a focus of praise and criticism. Ms. Chai and her husband were wealthy and privileged enough for her to have given birth in the United States, according to a flurry of news reports last year, and some comments accused her of hypocrisy. Her daughter was born with a benign tumor that required surgery; newspapers have quoted scientists who have challenged Ms. Chai’s suggestion in the video that smog was to blame.

But most of the reaction welcomed her initiative in producing and posting the documentary with her own money. Indeed, some have wondered how Ms. Chai got away with it.

China has been tightening restrictions on the Internet, and the documentary is somewhat critical of the government. Access to the video was not blocked, but by Sunday evening popular Chinese websites had removed prominent headlines and links about “Under the Dome” from their front pages, possibly at the behest of nervous propaganda officials.

Some officials, however, may even welcome it as an opportunity to build support for anti-smog measures. The website of People’s Daily, the main Communist Party newspaper, was one of the first to post “Under the Dome.” And the new minister of environmental protection, Chen Jining, praised the video.

Mr. Chen said at a news conference for Chinese reporters in Beijing on Sunday that the documentary reminded him of Ms. Carson’s “Silent Spring,” which on publication in 1962 inspired a public uproar about excessive use of pesticides, The Beijing Times reported, citing the Xinhua news agency.

“I think this work has an important role in promoting public awareness of environmental health issues,” Mr. Chen said, “so I’m particularly pleased about this event.”

Ms. Chai, 39, was born in Shanxi Province, a part of China abundant in coal, and bathed in noxious pollution. She told the website of People’s Daily that she decided to set aside worries about making her daughter the subject of a video.

“If I had not had this kind of emotional impetus,” she told the website, “I would have found it very difficult to spend such a long time completing this.”

via Documentary on Air Pollution Grips China – NYTimes.com.

Posted in Air Quality, Asia, China | Tagged , | 1 Comment

MPs’ plan to cut air pollution near schools rejected by Government

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

A generation of children will grow up with their lives blighted by illegally high levels of air pollution after the Government rejected proposals to protect schools in the worst affected areas, MPs claim.

With air pollution thought to be killing up to 60,000 people a year, a committee of MPs came up with a plan last December to tackle the problem. But in its response published today, the Government rejected most of their main recommendations.

Joan Walley, the Labour MP who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “This was an opportunity for the Government to pledge decisive action to cut the air pollution, thought to be killing nearly as many people in the UK as smoking.

“But ministers have once again failed to face up to the problem and instead passed the buck to the next government. We have been warning that urgent action is needed for the past five years. While this Government accepted that there is a problem, it has repeatedly failed to take the decisions necessary to sort it out.”

The committee had asked the Government to “make it impossible to build new schools, care homes or health clinics near existing air pollution hot spots” by changing planning laws.

But in their response, ministers said there was no need for additional planning rules. They pointed out that filters can be fitted to schools’ ventilation systems to “provide cleaner air”.

The committee’s calls for taxes on diesel vehicles designed to reduce air pollution were also rejected, but the Government said it would consider setting up a network of low-emission zones to improve air quality.

via MPs’ plan to cut air pollution near schools rejected by Government – UK Politics – UK – The Independent.

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

Cold facts of air pollution

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

The difference between a breath of cold air and a breath of warm air isn’t just the temperature. It’s also the pollutants they might contain.

Until now, wintertime air pollution hasn’t been studied in much detail. Scientists have focused more on warm air, partly because summertime’s stagnant atmospheric conditions and intense sunshine tend to worsen ozone pollution. But that’s about to change as researchers turn their attention to winter air quality in the eastern United States.

This month, a major air quality project known as WINTER (Wintertime Investigation of Transport, Emissions, and Reactivity) takes to the air to examine pollutants across the Northeast urban corridor, Ohio River Valley, and Southeast Mid-Atlantic. Scientists will home in on wintertime emissions from urban areas, power plants, and farmland, and seek to better understand the chemical processes that take place as pollutants move through an atmosphere that is not only colder but also darker than in summer.

The field campaign, which runs from February 1 to March 15, is being led by scientists at the University of Washington, NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of New Hampshire. The research team will use the NSF/NCAR C-130, a flying laboratory equipped with more than 20 instruments to measure gases and particles.

The aircraft is owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by NCAR. NCAR is also managing the project, including coordinating research flights and providing data services. Flight operations will be based at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

“Aircraft missions will occur at different times during the campaign so that the pollutant gases and reactions can be observed during the day, at night, from night into day, and day into night,” said NCAR project manager Cory Wolff.

WINTER’S REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

A number of factors affect wintertime air: colder temperatures, snow cover, lower absolute humidity, and fewer hours of sunlight. Plants tend to emit fewer chemicals, while people may emit more as they burn heating oil and other fuels to heat their homes. In addition, pollutants may travel farther because chemical reactions take place more slowly in cold air.

By flying over several regions, the WINTER research team will better understand the atmospheric impacts created by different types of emissions from major cities in the Northeast and coal-fired power plants in the Ohio River Valley. The scientists will compare those emissions with data they gather in the Southeast, where winters are milder, plants have a more pronounced influence on the atmosphere, and emissions come from agricultural burning.

The project’s findings will be used to provide more detailed information to decision makers and improve computer models of the atmosphere.

“Wintertime pollution has not been the focus of many campaigns—most are during the spring and summer months when the Sun has maximum impact,” said Wolff. “By sampling the air in the cold and darkness of winter, the science team can get a better sense of the atmospheric chemistry of the eastern United States and compare that to other times of year. ”

via Cold facts of air pollution | UCAR – University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

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