Shanghai considers arming residents with anti-pollution masks

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

Shanghai is considering distributing protective masks to its smog-choked residents, according to reports in the local media.

The proposals were made by Zhu Junbo, a local representative of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and follow a period of unusually toxic air pollution in the financial hub.

Shanghai’s pollution problem had become “more and more obvious” since 2012, Mr Zhu argued, according to the city’s Xinmin Evening News. “The government could purchase the right kind of masks, or select companies to produce qualified masks for distribution,” he told state media.

“We need to treat the haze at the source. We have noticed that Shanghai’s government and the central government have adopted many methods [to tackle pollution], but it may take time to bring about fundamental change,” added Mr Zhu, who is also the deputy bureau chief of Shanghai’s media regulator, the Press and Publication Administration.

It was not immediately clear if the proposals would see authorities give masks to all of the city’s more than 23 million residents. Mr Zhu said children, traffic police and those who worked outdoors should be given priority. The masks would be distributed through the city’s health care system, the Xinmin Evening News reported.

The report came as Yang Xiong, Shanghai’s mayor, told an annual summit of Communist Party leaders and advisers that his city needed to “break away from the conventional path of development.”

“Environmental capacity is strained and air pollution such as haze has become a pronounced problem,” Mr Yang told Shanghai’s People’s Congress on Sunday.

Mr Yang vowed to “pay more attention to the atmospheric environment” although on Tuesday the Shanghai Daily newspaper said the city’s investment in environmental protection would not rise from its current level of around 3% of economic output.

In 2014, Shanghai aimed to “eliminate 500 heavily polluting installations and facilities,” the mayor said.

Shanghai has traditionally been considered less polluted than the notoriously foul-skied Beijing. But in recent months recurrent bouts of severe smog have put its political leaders under pressure and made facemasks a common sight on the city’s streets.

Last December Shanghai suffered one of the worst spells of air pollution on record. Sports events, lessons and flights were cancelled as a putrid yellow haze enveloped the city and levels of PM2.5, a miniscule airborne particulate that has been linked to hearth disease and cancer, rocketed to levels that were more than 20 times those deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.

Last Wednesday, Shanghai introduced a “special emergency pollution” plan under which the government will be able to force cars off the city’s roads and close schools during particularly bad spells of pollution.

Some reports have suggested Shanghai may be suffering the consequences of a crackdown on polluting steel mills in the industrial belt around Beijing.

Seeking to clear Beijing’s skies, authorities closed 8,347 “heavily polluting companies” in the northern province of Hebei last year, China’s official news agency said last week.

However, analysts believe some dirty industries, including steel, cement and glass, may have simply migrated to provinces surrounding Shanghai, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi.

“It could be that they reduce pollution in Hebei and it just pops up again here in Shanghai,” Graeme Train, a Shanghai commodities analyst, told Reuters earlier this month.

Shanghai is not the only Chinese city grappling with how to clear its skies.

On Tuesday, state media quoted senior Communist Party officials in the provinces of Guangxi and Hubei who voiced concerns over increasing levels of smog.

“[Guangxi’s capital] Nanning used to be famous for its clean air but after looking at the city’s air quality readings last year, it’s hard to be optimistic,” Jiang Hongbing, the deputy head of the Communist Party’s provincial supervision department, told Xinhua, China’s official news service. Mr Jiang urged his province’s leaders to “act before things get really serious.”

Li Hong, a senior official from Hubei province, said: “[Locals] feel the problems of Beijing and Shanghai are now happening around us.”

In an interview with the state-run China Daily, Shen Xiaoyue, a senior official from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, warned: “The situation is too serious to allow further delays.”

“After 30 years of fast-track economic development since the 1980s the environmental damage that’s resulted from the GDP-centred policy has become all too apparent,” added Ms Shen, who is director of the ministry’s policy research centre.

“The public is understandably alarmed by the heavy smog which on bad days seems to engulf the country and, judging by all the evidence, if not handled properly and directly, environmental issues have the potential to not only erode government credibility but also to threaten social stability.”

via Shanghai considers arming residents with anti-pollution masks – Telegraph.

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EU air pollution target ‘still too high’ for heart health

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

A study confirming a link between atmospheric pollution and heart-attack risk strengthens the EU case for tougher clean-air targets, experts say.

Research in the BMJ looking at long-term data for 100,000 people in five European countries found evidence of harm, even at permitted concentrations.

Experts stressed that the risk to an individual was still relatively small.

And some argued the results were not conclusive as they did not take account of previous exposure to higher levels.

Other factors, such as smoking or having high blood pressure, contribute more to a person’s risk of heart attack than pollution from traffic fumes and industry, they say.

But repeated, long-term exposure to air pollution – living next to a busy road in a city, for example – does take its toll, the research, involving a collaboration of European universities and institutes, reveals.

Tougher limits

The BMJ study found that for each 5 µg/m3 increase in annual exposure to fine-particulate (PM 2.5) air pollution – thought to be the most damaging type, as smaller particles can penetrate deep into the body – there is a 13% relative increase in the incidence of heart attacks, even after taking into account other risk factors such as smoking.

Similarly, rising levels of larger-particulate air pollution (PM 10) were also linked to heart-attack risk.

And these associations remained even when exposure concentrations were below the current European limits.

Authors of the study – the largest ever looking at the impact of pollution exposure in European people – says its results support the case for lowering EU limits for particulate matter air pollution.

Current EU legislation sets the annual mean limit on PM 2.5 at twice that recommended by the World Health Organization.

Case ‘not made’

Jon Ayres, professor of environmental and respiratory medicine at the University of Birmingham, said: “There is no doubt that further reduction of PM levels would result in improvements in cardiac health in Europe.

“One can only hope that our European politicians will be persuaded of the importance of these findings and reassess their position on air pollution in Europe.”

Prof David Coggon, from the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Southampton, was more cautious.

“This study adds to the evidence that particulate air pollution is a cause of heart disease, but it does not establish that there are important health risks from levels of exposure below current exposure limits,” he said.

“This is because the differences in risk that were observed may have been a long-term effect of exposures in the past when levels of pollution were higher.”

UK estimates suggest nearly 30,000 people die prematurely each year as a direct result of exposure to air pollution, which has been linked to asthma and other lung diseases, including cancer, as well as heart problems.

A recent report by Defra on the issue says evidence suggests that there is no “safe” limit for exposure to PM 2.5, and that this type of man-made pollution cuts the average life expectancy of people living in the UK by seven to eight months.

via BBC News – EU air pollution target ‘still too high’ for heart health.

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Air pollution exposure linked to sharp rise in heart trouble

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

Long-term exposure to air pollution has been linked to a sharp increase in heart attacks and angina cases, according to research in five European Union countries that was conducted over more than a decade.

Excluding illness, poverty and smoking, researchers found that an increase of just a fifth in the levels of the smallest pollution particles, caused by engine fumes and coal smoke, cause heart attack numbers to jump by 13 per cent.

However, the research, published today by the British Medical Journal, warned that European Union permitted levels are not strict enough. The number of cases rises by 18 per cent when pollution jumps by a fifth, but still stays below limits permitted by Brussels.

In the EU, the current annual pollution limit, known as PM2.5, is set at 25 micrograms (one-millionth of a gram) per cubic metre of air. This limit is more than double the figure permitted in the United States.

The research by an international team of experts was led by the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, which studied over 100,000 people with no prior history of heart disease from 1997 to 2007. The subjects came from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Italy. Over 5,000 people suffered heart attacks or problems during the years when they were surveyed by the medical team.

Swedish residents faced the lowest average pollution figures, 7.3 micrograms per microlitre, but people living Northern Italy had to cope with rates averaging 31mg.

The latest World Health Organisation Global Burden of Disease report estimated that air pollution causes 3.1m deaths a year and a fifth of all of the healthy years lost by people throughout the world to ischaemic heart disease.

Several past studies have linked pollution to mortality, particularly deaths from heart attacks – though the evidence that it causes or increases acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina cases “is less consistent and requires further investigations”, they note.

Dublin-based Prof Luke Clancy said the latest figures show there are “no safe” levels for air pollution, though he added that a zero limit could not be achieved because compromises will always be necessary due to economic priorities.

“It is now accepted that there is no zero limit. All pollution has a contribution to make towards mortality figures,” he told The Irish Times, adding, however, that the ban on smoky coal in Dublin brought about an 80 per cent drop in pollution “that never came back”.

Prof Jon Ayres of the University of Birmingham said the results “have been awaited eagerly for some time” because the same methodology was used across all five countries and the results were “remarkably consistent”.

The five micrograms rise in PM2.5 required to increase heart attacks by 13 per cent is equal to the difference between “living in a less polluted city such as Edinburgh compared to a bigger one like Glasgow”, Dr Jeremy Langrish from the University of Edinburgh said.

However, he cautioned that “the absolute risk is quite small”, since 450 people a year out of the 100,000 would be expected to report heart problems of some nature, “so a 13 per cent increase would be an extra 59 cases a year”.

Calling for further falls in permitted pollution levels, the British Heart Foundation said research carried out Edinburgh over the last five years has clearly shown how exhaust fumes affect the operation of the heart and blood vessels.

via Air pollution exposure linked to sharp rise in heart trouble – European News | Latest News from Across Europe | The Irish Times – Tue, Jan 21, 2014.

To read the full study: Long term exposure to ambient air pollution and incidence of acute coronary events: prospective cohort study and meta-analysis in 11 European cohorts from the ESCAPE Project www.bmj.com

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Friends of the Earth hits out at Birmingham’s levels of air pollution

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

Up to 530 people could be dying every year from air pollution-related conditions in Birmingham, according to environmental campaigners.

Friends of the Earth have hit out after monitoring stations in the city were shown to be recording levels of pollution above recommended European safety limits.

Of Birmingham’s six monitoring stations, one in Tyburn Road is breaching EU permitted limits for levels of nitrogen dioxide, leading Friends of the Earth to brand the city’s air pollution problem a “silent killer”.

Campaigns co-ordinator Robert Pass said: “We suspect pollution is as bad if not worse in other parts of the city and we need better monitoring to find out.

“The fact is that people are dying and it’s something that has been swept under the carpet but it’s our job to raise the alarm.”

In the 1950s Birmingham was often blanketed by clouds of smog from coal burning homes and industries.

But 60 years on, traffic is now the main cause for concern with prime emissions including carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.

While the number of road traffic deaths in the UK stands at around 2,000 every year, campaigners claim the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution stands somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000.

Mr Pass said: “That’s an absolutely outrageous number of people who are basically being poisoned by the transport system we have in place.”

Last year, environmental lawyers ClientEarth accused the Government of failing to protect Birmingham residents from the harmful effects of air pollution, taking their case to the Supreme Court.

The landmark case used data collected in cities including Birmingham, finding levels of air pollution on some of the city’s busiest roads were more than twice the legal limit.

The case is now going to the European Court where the Government could be ordered to take drastic action to curb pollutants in order to avoid facing European fines. ClientEarth has called for a low-emission zone in Birmingham to improve air quality, saying there are more than 50 such zones in Germany while London’s congestion charge zone has been the UK’s only one, with another launched in Oxford two weeks ago.

While the Government has suggested closing 600 monitoring stations across England to save money, the Department of Health says more than six per cent of adult deaths in Birmingham can be attributed to current levels.

In 2011 the council produced an air quality action plan which highlighted pollution produced by road traffic as a major problem.

The report stressed the problem of nitrogen dioxide, which mainly comes from road vehicles, and highlighted a study which concluded that long term exposure causes lung scarring and emphysema. But Birmingham campaigners say cycling can provide a large part of the solution.

Last year’s successful bid for £17 million of cycling investment has seen Birmingham’s cycle spend per person rocket from £1-2 per year to £12 per year for the next two years.

Friends of the Earth’s Let’s Get Moving campaign is now calling on the council to keep investing £10 per person per year in cycling for the next 10 years to bring the city up to standard.

Mr Pass said: “We’re not asking the council to spend money it doesn’t have but to keep up the momentum of last summer, by continuing to lobby for funding to improve the city’s cycle network, as well as looking for other sources of funding, such as ring-fencing any income from a low-emissions zone for cycling improvements”

Coun James McKay, cabinet member for a green, safe and smart city, said: “The government funding covers the first two years of a much longer-term strategic cycling vision to complete the city’s cycle network – and this also fits into the council’s Birmingham Mobility Action Plan.

“It is not as simple as talking about spend per head on just cycling, as other related projects and initiatives will enhance conditions for cyclists such as improved bus lanes and the proposed introduction of a 20mph limit for residential roads and routes passing through local centres.

“Also once major improvements are made, the spend will move from major infrastructure to repairs and maintenance, which will cost less – but the overall key message is that we are fully committed to improving cycling.”

via Friends of the Earth hits out at Birmingham’s levels of air pollution – Birmingham Post.

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Meteorology institute reports

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology Monday reported that maximum precipitation was recorded in Bayantes soum, Uvs aimag (11.3 mm) in December of 2013.

Omnogobi aimag’s Khanbogd soum had the highest air temperature (+7.8 C), while Zavkhan aimag’s Tsetsen-Uul soum aimag had the lowest (-42.0 C). The strongest wind–40m/sec–was registered in Bulgan soum of Omnogobi aimag that month.

Meanwhile, in the UB city a daily average concentration of nitrogen dioxide exceeded 31 times around the West crossroad, around the 13th micro district, and around the 32nd Circle.

Daily average concentration of sulphur dioxide exceeded 30 times around the 32nd Circle, and around the 13th micro district, 26 times around the West crossroad, 22 times around the Palace of Officers. Daily average concentration of carbon dioxide exceeded once around the West crossroad and 32nd Circle.

Particulate matter less than 10 micrograms exceeded 29 times around the West crossroad and Kharkhorin market, 31 times around the 32nd Circle.

Particulate matter less than 2.5 micrograms exceeded the maximum allowable concentration of air quality standard 25 times around the West crossroad, 30 times around 13th micro district in December of 2013.

via Meteorology institute reports.

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Lewisham air quality call after pollution-related deaths

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

THERE are urgent calls to tackle air quality in Lewisham after it frequently ranked as one of the worst three London boroughs for air pollution-related deaths, according to new stats.

The main causes of death – all linked with air pollution – in London were heart attacks, chronic lower respiratory disease, strokes, dementia and lung cancer, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The study, commissioned by campaign group Clean Air in London, showed Lewisham appeared 14 times as one of the worst three boroughs for the top ten causes of death between 2010 and 2012.

Lewisham’s Lib Dem group is now calling for action to prevent a “wealth of health problems” further down the line.

Cllr Julia Fletcher, Lib Dem councillor for Downham ward, said: “These new findings are a call to action, and I must ask why the council is so keen to avoid this issue.

“We must take simple measures to tackle this problem and make sure that our residents are breathing clean air, or face a wealth of health problems in the population further down the line.”

But Lewisham Council cabinet member for customer services Councillor Susan Wise insists the Labour Group is not avoiding the issue and has submitted a motion on air quality to next Wednesday’s (January 22) full council meeting.

Cllr Wise said: “Lewisham Council takes air pollution very seriously, regularly monitoring air quality across the borough.

“Areas which fail to meet expected standards are designated as Air Quality Management Areas and action to improve air quality is taken.

“The Coalition Government attempted to make changes to local Air Quality Management and was widely criticised for hiding the facts about air pollution.

“The Government have announced a further review, completely failing to take any action on this important issue.

“The Mayor of London has the major responsibility for air quality in the capital but has not made any effort to improve it since coming to office. Most of the air pollution within an urban area such as London arises from car emission.

“His priority should be to get cars off the road by reducing public transport fares. Unfortunately, the Mayor has seen fit to increase bus fares by 60% since 2008.

“The Labour Group has submitted a motion on air quality to next week’s Council meeting. Far from avoiding this issue we wish it to be debated in full with all of the facts in front of us. The Liberal Democrats are simply proposing things that already happen.”

The volunteers took to the streets to highlight the “disastrous impact” the £4.2 billion Thames Water sewer project could have on pollution levels at the proposed site in Crossfields Green, which is close to St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School.

Don’t Dump on Deptford campaigner and Labour council candidate for New Cross, Joe Dromey, said: “This will rob us of one of the few leafy open spaces in Deptford.

“Hundreds of noisy, dirty and polluting dump trucks will clog our streets and further pollute the local environment.

“It will be intolerable for pupils at St Joseph’s and Tidemill, worshippers at St Paul’s, businesses on the High Street and the residents of Crossfields.

“The tests we’re doing will demonstrate to the Planning Inspectorate the disastrous impact this will have on our community and show them they need to think again.”

The Planning Inspectorate is currently examining the case for the location of the super sewer and a decision is expected by early autumn this year.

via Lewisham air quality call after pollution-related deaths (From This Is Local London).

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Beijing’s mayor announces ‘all-out effort’ to tackle air pollution

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

There appears to be no end in sight for China‘s air pollution problems as Beijing issued its first pollution warning of the new year. The capital, along with Tianjin and a number of cities in Hebei province are again enveloped in a shroud of hazardous smog.

Some of Beijing’s most well-known buildings were barely visible on Thursday as the municipal government issued a yellow smog alert.

Pollution levels reached more than 20 times the levels considered unhealthy by the World Health Organisation and the the city’s residents, especially children and the elderly were advised not to go outdoors. Early on Thursday morning levels of fine particulate pollution known as PM2.5 reached around 500 micrograms per cubic metre, according to the US Embassy which measures air pollution and publishes the levels on its Twitter feed. It is thought to be the highest reading since January 2013.

Visibility in some parts of the city dropped to less than 500 metres and four highways out of the city were closed temporarily. The current high pollution levels began on Wednesday afternoon and it was reported by Chinese state media that it is expected to last until Friday when winds will increase.

High levels of air pollution have become commonplace in Beijing and other Chinese cities, especially during winter months when temperatures drop and more coal is burned when heating systems are switched on. This combined with stagnant air conditions leave many cities covered in a dense layer of smog for days at a time.

There has been much debate in China about what the main cause of the air pollution is. Cars, coal-fired power stations, factories and even barbeques have been blamed.

On Thursday, Beijing’s mayor Wang Anshun announced an “all-out effort” to tackle air pollution. He said that coal use would be cut by 2.6 million tonnes and that measures will be taken to stop coal burning in the city and the surrounding areas.

China’s central government is also taking the problem seriously and in September the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced a plan to bring improvements in air quality by 2017. Under the plan many polluting factories would be closed and China’s massive reliance on fossil fuels would be reduced.

via Beijing’s mayor announces ‘all-out effort’ to tackle air pollution | Environment | theguardian.com.

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Beijing hit by first bout of ‘off the charts’ air pollution of 2014

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Respro® UK Ltd

Beijing issued this year’s first air pollution warning on Wednesday night as pollution readings reached “beyond index” levels.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) measured at all six Beijing downtown districts and every southern suburban region on Thursday morning far surpassed 300, the threshold for the worst level in a six-scale table, according to data from Beijing Environmental Protection Monitoring Centre.

Most of these regions have readings measured at the 400 to 500 range. The environmental protection authority does not differentiate between pollution levels after it they pass 300 – all of which fall under the “severe pollution” range.

The AQI indicates the amount of PM2.5 particles in the air which measure less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter. The tiny inhalable particles are believed to pose more risks to human health than bigger particles like PM10 because they can travel deeper into the lung and cause more severe health issues.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, the specialised cancer agency of the World Health Organisation, last year for the first time linked outdoor air pollution with cancer deaths. It said PM2.5 contributed to 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide.

The US Embassy in Beijing, which also measures AQI in the form of PM2.5 concentration, put the number at the upper 400 range or “hazardous level” on Thursday morning, according to a Twitter account that publicises the readings every hour. At 4am it reached 671.

The air pollution level began to surge at around 9pm on Wednesday night, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, prompting the authority to issue a “blue” heavy pollution warning.

The pollution is expected to slowly disperse as early as Friday midday, the authority predicted.

Air pollution has been on the rise in recent years in cities across China as pollution monitors have observed staggering amounts of serious air pollution. Experts say the primary sources of pollutants are emissions from motor vehicles, coal burning, and scattered construction sites.

The eastern coastal city and economic hub of Shanghai experienced pollution for more than a third of last year, the city’s environmental protection bureau said on Wednesday. Just 52 days were considered “good” in terms of air quality.

via Beijing hit by first bout of ‘off the charts’ air pollution of 2014 | South China Morning Post.

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