Grim report on air pollution and how it affects children’s lungs

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

A new report shows alarming effects of air pollution on children’s lungs. We noted some preliminary findings of the report some weeks ago, but the report produced by Dr Hung Wing-tat’s team at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has now been published. Called Health Effects of Air Pollution Exposure on School Children in Hong Kong, it is based on a study of 12 schools and analyses the quality of the air that the children breathe in the classroom, in their homes and in the transport they use travelling to school. It also measures the lung function of these children, who were from Form Five and Form Six. One class from each school was surveyed.

The report says children in 10 of the 12 schools surveyed had weaker lung function than they would normally have been expected to have. Children in only two of the schools had better lung function than expected. Children in 11 of the 12 schools had asthma, which also affected as many as 25 per cent of the children in one of the classes.

It also found 13 to 59 per cent of the children in the different classes suffered from an allergic nasal condition, which was attributed to tobacco smoking at home, incense burning and mould in their homes. The lung function of children with smokers at home was about 5 per cent weaker than those who did not live with smokers.

The poor air quality in transport was particularly alarming. School buses contained concentrations of pm10 and pm2.5, carbon dioxide and total volatile organic compounds that were all well above World Health Organisation standards. Children are also exposed to pm10 that exceed WHO guidelines when they walk in the streets, take the train and travel on franchised buses.

The report makes grim reading for those concerned with the health of children in Hong Kong. When lungs are affected by pollution at a young age, they are rarely able to return to a “normal” condition.

A concept-driven market

The mainland’s stock market investors have of late shown a penchant for pursuing “concept” stocks. This generally takes the form of scrutinising pronouncements of the central government. We saw recently that while the broader market declined, defence and surveillance-related stocks rose sharply following signs that the government intended to revamp security in the country in the face of rising threats at home and abroad.

A similar thing happened earlier this week after reports that Beijing might relax the one-child policy. Baby-related stocks such as those involved with milk powder soared, while the anti-baby sector such as companies that manufacture condoms fell.

HK ‘top financial centre’?

Ten per cent of senior bankers in London believe that Hong Kong will be the world’s leading financial centre in five years, while 3 per cent believe it already is. These were among the findings of a survey by Britain’s Kinetic Partners 2014 Global Regulatory Outlook. When asked to name the leading emerging financial centre in 2018, almost half (48 per cent) of respondents named Shanghai, while just 7 per cent mentioned Dubai and Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The proportion of bankers who regarded London as the top financial centre dropped to 40 per cent from 65 per cent last year, while 49 per cent now view New York as the leading financial centre, up from 31 per cent last year.

About 40 per cent still expect New York to lead the finance world in 2018, but just 26 per cent – and only 24 per cent of the 132 chief executives questioned – think the same of London, down from 41 per cent last year.

Julian Korek, chief executive and founding member of Kinetic Partners, said: “The emergence of Shanghai as a future global financial centre is a major theme in this year’s survey. As our report notes, Shanghai still faces significant challenges to attract international business and develop regulatory expertise, but it’s also not alone.”

He added that given that China also had financial expertise centred in Hong Kong, as well as a fast-growing, but lesser-known, financial services centre in Shenzhen, if the mainland\’s model proved successful, it would be copied in similar centres.

“As such, rising competition for markets such as London is only going to grow,” he said.

via Grim report on air pollution and how it affects children’s lungs | South China Morning Post.

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City’s Highest Air Pollution Levels Found On Upper West Side

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

The Upper West Side may be wealthy and fashionable, but its air remains the most polluted in the whole city, according to a published report.

The city government program NYC Clean Heat released the study, according to a DNAInfo report.

The cause of the pollution is the combustion of heavy heating oils, which sends particulate matter such as sulfur and nickel into the air and causes more pollution than cars or trucks, according to the publication. The size of the buildings on the Upper West Side has resulted in the high levels of heating fuel pollution, NYC Clean Heat told the publication.

In 2011, a total of 700 Upper West Side buildings were found to be burning heavy heating oils No. 4 and No. 6, which are known to contain high levels of toxins, the publication reported. A total of about 10,000 buildings burn the fuels citywide, the publication reported.

This year, about 160 of the buildings have converted to safer fuels, but the others are still sending 54 tons of particulate matter into the air, the publication reported.

As of last year, the most significant emitter, No. 6 oil, had been banned by the city and permits for burning it will not be renewed or granted once current permits run out in 2015, the publication reported.

The Upper East Side and Midtown also saw high levels of emissions, according to the publication.

via Report: City’s Highest Air Pollution Levels Found On Upper West Side « CBS New York.

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Chronic respiratory illness cases rise with air pollution

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

You don’t have to be a smoker to get chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which causes severe breathing problems. Vehicular pollution, which is increasing rapidly in our cities, is equally harmful. In Chennai, where the number of vehicles is growing alarmingly, ENT and pulmonology clinics are seeing a surge in cases of respiratory illnesses caused due to severe air pollution.

Dr G S Vijayachandar, pulmonologist at the Institute of Thoracic Medicine, says 200 of the 300 patients suffer from blockages in the airway tract due to air pollution. “Episodes of difficulty in breathing can be triggered by allergens, infections and environmental pollutants. A large chunk of patients with asthma and bronchitis suffer from dust allergy,” he says.

The pollution control board’s permissible limit for respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) is 100 microgram /cubic metre. “But the levels of pollutants are twice the permissible amount in several city areas, and with nearly 40 lakh vehicles on the roads every day, immediate steps have to be taken to control the situation,” he adds.

The Allergy and Pulmonology Clinic at the Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF) has registered 1,427 cases of respiratory illnesses in the last one year, with asthma and COPD topping the list. “With its humid weather acting as a trigger, Chennai seems to choke with respiratory issues,” says MERF managing director Dr Mohan Kameswaran. He said 90% of the patients coming to the clinic had dust allergy stemming from environmental pollution. “Earlier only adults had such problems. Now, even children are suffering. We see patients coming in with conjunctivitis, wheezing, nasal bleeding and inflammation, all results of inhaling soot and carbon particles emitted from vehicles.”

via Chronic respiratory illness cases rise with air pollution – The Times of India.

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Air Pollution as a Heart Threat

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Bit by bit over the past few decades, scientists have been building a new understanding of the ways that air pollution threatens human health. Much of their attention has been focused on lung diseases, including cancers. With good reason, it turns out: just last month, the World Health Organization declared air pollution to be one of the planet’s most dangerous environmental carcinogens.

But cardiovascular disease is much more common than cancer. Sadly, there is now a pile of evidence, sometimes startling, that air pollution also plays a role in heart attacks and strokes. The new studies suggest that air pollution not only worsens cardiovascular disease — but can also cause it.

“We’ve known for about 20 years that we see increased risk of heart attack and stroke in association with increased levels of air pollution,” said Sara Adar, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan. The most recent data show that “air pollution does more than just make you worse.”

Scientists like Dr. Adar have been studying fine particulates adrift in the cloud of unfriendly gases shrouding many of our communities. Measuring 2.5 micrometers (or microns) or less, these bits of material are so tiny that it would take about 30 of them to equal the diameter of a human hair. A series of studies has found that they penetrate deep into the lungs, embedding in tissue and setting off a cascade of inflammatory effects. Researchers believe the inflammation also spreads into the circulatory system, altering the way blood vessels function.

Although air pollution is a long-recognized and regulated health hazard, only gradually have researchers come to appreciate the threat of particulates. In 1989, C. Arden Pope III, a professor of economics at Brigham Young University, published a paper based on the temporary shutdown of a nearby steel mill, showing a linear relationship between emissions and hospitalizations. He traced the illnesses to particulates in the air.

Dr. Pope originally had focused on air pollution’s effects on the lungs, but over the years he kept turning up increases in cardiovascular disease. “By 2002, I’d given up on the idea that this was just some anomaly in the study design,” he recalled in an interview. Eventually he identified the culprit: fine particles, far smaller than those tracked in his original steel mill study. “The deeper you dive into the data, the more clearly you see the effect on cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Pope said.

Dr. Adar and her colleagues have been tracking the damage at the microscopic level in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution (MESA Air), which has followed more than 5,000 people in six states for more than a decade. It is funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Researchers working with the project have contributed to an increasingly precise understanding of risks associated with fine particles that float in polluted air. Dr. Adar and her colleagues have shown, for instance, that increased exposure to pollutants, after other factors are factored out, can be directly linked to narrowing of blood vessels and to a steady thickening of artery walls.

Their most recent study, published this year in PLoS Medicine, described a near-linear relationship: as air pollution levels dropped, the thickening slowed. When exposure to air pollutants increased, signs of damage increased.

The MESA Air study also has reinforced a sense that vehicle exhaust may be unusually harmful. Researchers in the United States and many other countries have linked traffic pollution to heart rate variability in a range of people – from vehicle drivers to bicyclists traveling congested roadways. A study published this year in Environmental Health found evidence of “acute changes” in heartbeats in people, aged 22 to 56, driving in Mexico City traffic. Another recent study, of bicyclists in Ottawa, found that their heart rhythms appeared to be altered for hours after they had returned home in ways unrelated to exertion.

“There’s increasing evidence that there’s something about traffic-related pollution in particular,” said Dr. Joel D. Kaufman, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Vehicle emissions are thought to include an unusually high proportion of very small, or ultrafine, particles, allowing them to penetrate deeper into the body. Researchers say there is also some evidence that the shape of these particles gives them an unusually high surface area, which permits other contaminants to stick onto them. As a result, they may actually concentrate toxic compounds in polluted air.

“The evidence is pretty overwhelming that fine particles do harm,” said Dr. Russell V. Luepker, a cardiologist and epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, a co-author of two scientific reports on air pollution for the American Heart Association.

But, he added, health choices — such as poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise — and conditions such as hypertension still pose greater risks. “If we got rid of air pollution, heart disease would not disappear,” Dr. Luepker said.

Researchers studying the health effects of air pollution are starting to look at ways that their findings can be used for greater protection. Dr. Adar and her colleagues are looking for ways to better identify and control the most dangerous vehicle emissions, while other scientists are pondering everything from improved air purifiers to particle-absorbing barriers. But one of the most effective responses is environmental regulation.

Several decades of clean air regulations in the United States have had lifesaving effects. A study published this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimated that there has been a 35 percent drop in deaths and disabilities related to air pollution, including cardiovascular diseases, in the United States since 1990.

“Our public policy efforts to reduce air pollution are one of the most effective medical interventions in the last 20 to 30 years,” Dr. Pope said.

via Air Pollution as a Heart Threat – NYTimes.com.

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Hong Kong’s air quality blighted by fumes from road and sea

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

When Beijing residents visit Hong Kong, they sometimes quip that the territory is like a breath of fresh air, especially in winter when the Chinese capital can be bathed in extremely hazardous smog for days on end.While most Hong Kongers can understand that feeling – having seen countless images of mainland cities wrapped in smog – they are far from happy with their own air quality.

According to the Hedley Environmental Index, compiled by the University of Hong Kong, the territory had 69 clear days – when the levels of five pollutants complied with World Health Organisation guidelines – last year. The pollution cost the economy an estimated HKD40bn ($5bn) in healthcare costs and lost productivity.

“Our air quality could be much better … and that’s what we are striving for,” says Christine Loh, an environmental activist who became Hong Kong’s undersecretary for the environment about a year ago.

While the pollution has the greatest effect on Hong Kong’s 7m citizens, the government is also worried about the effect on the former British colony’s ability to retain foreign business and remain a key financial capital.

According to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce’s survey of business prospects for 2013 – released in 2012 – about 40 per cent of respondents said the government was doing a “poor” job tackling the air quality issue, while another 50 per cent said its performance was “average”.

David O’Rear, the chief economist at the chamber, says that, while companies complain about air quality, there does not appear to be much effect on business.

But others, including recruitment groups, say the pollution can influence people’s decision whether to move to Hong Kong.

“A major factor is whether they have children” says Richard Boden, a principal at Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search firm. “People are willing to put themselves through the pollution but, when children are involved, preconceptions about the severity of the pollution can be difficult to overcome.”

But he adds that pollution in Beijing and Shanghai tends to help Hong Kong because, by comparison, its air was of reasonable quality.

While the government has received poor marks for its handling of the environment, this year it unveiled a new “clean air plan” that has received generally positive reviews. Regina Ip, head of the New People’s party, says the government should be applauded.

“To the foreign community, there are two key issues, air quality and international school places,” says Mrs Ip. “On air quality, the government is actually doing a lot … I think we should be seeing improvements slowly. Naturally, the exogenous factor, air from the Pearl River Delta, we can’t control.”

Ms Loh, who has been instrumental in pushing the new environmental measures, says Hong Kong faces several hard challenges that need to be addressed to reduce the health burden on the population.

Hong Kong suffers from high background pollution – much of which emanates from the manufacturing region of the Pearl River Delta across the border in Guangdong – in addition to high roadside pollution.

“In the densest urban areas, we have a street canyon trapping effect so, even when we have better or lower pollution in the ambient air, at roadside it’s highly undesirable every day,” says Mr Loh.

The government is setting aside US$1.5bn to help replace of 80,000 of the 120,000 diesel vehicles in Hong Kong and to fit buses and taxis with devices to help reduce their emissions of nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide.

The territory also inhales high emissions from cargo ships, a particular challenge because the port – the third-largest container port in the world – is close to a densely populated part of the city across the harbour in the New Territories.

To tackle the problem, the government is poised to bring in legislation to force cargo ships and other ocean-going vessels to switch to a cleaner fuel with lower sulphur content when they berth in Victoria Harbour.

Hong Kong is also working with Guangdong, including Shenzhen which has the second-largest container port on the mainland, to get mainland authorities to frame regulations that would require ships to use cleaner fuel – something that ships are already required to do in the US and Europe.

“We’ve talked about this to our regional neighbours,” said Ms Loh, “and we’ve talked to the national authorities [in mainland China], so, in a way, we are promoting an idea with a larger vision.”

Ms Loh says that the Hong Kong business community is supportive of the measures that the government is taking.

Alex Trott, who is the head of Accenture’s financial services practice in Hong Kong, thinks the jury is out: “There has been a lot of discussion, but the question is how quickly action can be taken.”

via Hong Kong’s air quality blighted by fumes from road and sea – FT.com.

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Air quality warning issued as wildfire continues to grow

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Health officials in North Carolina have issued an air quality advisory for air pollution in the western section of the state as smoke from a now 1,800-acre wildfire in Burke County drifts downwind.

Officials say people in Burke, Caldwell and McDowell counties could experience unhealthy air quality, depending on wind directions. Police in Boone say they are getting reports of fairly heavy smoke in the area, which is believed to be from the wildfire.

The 1,800-acre wildfire in the Pisgah National Forest, which has been out of control since it started Monday, is producing heavy smoke that could contain high levels of particle pollution. The fire is centered in the Linville Gorge Wilderness near Table Rock Mountain.

More than 100 firefighters have been called in from across North Carolina and other states, but so far they have not been able to control it.

“So far only 5% of it is contained,” said Deborah Walker of the U.S. Forest Service. “We are trying to get containment lines around it but the terrain is very tough.”The fire, known as the “Table Rock Fire,” is about one-quarter mile southwest of Table Rock Mountain in the east-central part of the Gorge.

Firefighters are cleaning up existing roads, trails and existing fire lines from previous fires to contain the wildfire.

Thursday morning the fire was estimated to have charred 300 acres. The sixfold increase during the day is the result of low humidity and wind that picked up in the afternoon.

The fire is on the Linville Gorge side of the Table Rock mountain area but also has burned an area outside of the Gorge itself.

Until Thursday, most of the smoke had gone into the Morganton area. But as the winds shifted, it headed north and northeast.

In the Gingercake Acres development, a few miles from the fire itself, smoke was thickening and ash particles, looking like snowflakes, began falling. “That is definitely not snow,” said Ed McClure outside of his house.

He could also tell that the smoke cloud was getting thicker. “I am noticing it and my nose is getting plugged from it,” he said.

Forestry officials said the smoke will increase on Friday as backburning operations get underway to clear out some containment lines. A helicopter will be used to drop ping-pong ball sized incendiary devices to set the fires. Officials advise anyone with respiratory problems to stay indoors if they are in an area where the smoke is thick.

Officials are not sure how long the firefighting efforts will be needed. No homes are threatened at this time, they said, but crews want to make sure the blaze does not break out into an area where that could happen.

Dan Vance, who has hiked the Linville Gorge area most of his life said it would be very tough to stop the fire with manpower alone. “They’re gonna need some rain to stop it because they can’t get to it.”

Health officials say the smoke from the fire can impair breathing and aggravate symptoms in people with respiratory problems, and irritate the lungs in healthy individuals. People with chronic lung ailments and children should reduce physical exertion and outdoor activity.

The Forest Service is asking anyone who may have seen someone camping or was in the area of the Table Rock picnic area Monday to call the Forest Service at 828-652-2144.

via Air quality warning issued as wildfire continues to grow – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC.

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Guangzhou announces emergency measures to tackle heavy pollution

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Guangzhou’s government has rolled out emergency measures for days when air pollution is high.

They include taking nearly a third of government and half of private vehicles off the road and forcing factories to reduce emissions of pollutants.

Yang Liu, director of the Guangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau, said yesterday that air pollution would now be formally categorised as an emergency. A 15-department task force would co-ordinate action centrally on days when the city was hit by intense smog.

The announcement came two weeks after Beijing set out emergency measures to be taken when levels of PM2.5, the tiny airborne particles considered most harmful to health, are forecast to exceed 300 micrograms per cubic metre for three consecutive days.

Air pollution is now a top public concern in several mainland cities, many of them in the north, where energy generation relies heavily upon coal-burning plants.

In Guangzhou, the contingency measures will be activated under an orange alert. That will come into force when the air quality index is forecast to reach between 201 and 300 for 48 hours at five of 10 monitoring stations. Authorities will then take 20 per cent of the city’s 13,000 government vehicles off the road.

Under a red alert, triggered when the index exceeds 300, 30 per cent of government vehicles will be kept off the roads. Private vehicles will be usable only on alternate days based on whether their licence plate ends with an even or an odd number.

Guangzhou\’s air quality index has not passed 300 in the past three years. It reached the level that would now trigger an orange alert on two days in 2011 and three days last year.

Unlike Beijing, Guangzhou did not list school class suspension as mandatory on alert days.

“Whether to suspend class is a preventive health guideline and we are relying on our education authorities to map out implementation details,” Yang said. “All of our measures, including ways of informing citizens, monitoring and implementation, will require going through drills so we can effectively notify people and minimise inconvenience.”

Under a red alert, factories will be required to cut emissions by 30 per cent. Fireworks and outdoor barbecuing will also be banned, and there will be stronger monitoring of restaurant kitchens and petrol stations. Employers will be encouraged to allow staff to work flexible hours.

According to Yang, the measures are in line with what the Beijing, Shanghai and Foshan city governments have unveiled, but Guangzhou has in addition specifically targeted ozone in its emission limits, which has proved a consistent concern in the city.

via Guangzhou announces emergency measures to tackle heavy pollution | South China Morning Post.

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‘New website can help Londoners and businesses reduce air pollution’, says Mayor

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

• Website features unique tools to help Londoners reduce emissions and exposure to air pollution

• Resources for schools and businesses so they can reduce their own air pollution footprint, with case studies and informative technical guides

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has launched the capital’s official ‘Cleaner Air’ website – www.cleanerairforlondon.org.uk

The site includes personalised tools to help Londoners, young people and businesses to play their part in reducing emissions and their exposure to air pollution. It features a raft of data from monitoring stations across the capital, as well as important, yet easy steps people can take such as walking or cycling to work, or making more informed choices about the routes they use to improve air quality and reduce exposure to harmful pollutants.

Recognising the powerful role that businesses can play in improving air quality, the site includes resources such as case studies and technical guides to help businesses reduce their emissions by replacing old boilers, improving deliveries and encouraging staff to travel in a more sustainable way.

It also features sections that are aimed specifically at young people, with information that focuses on some of the sources and effects of air pollution in London past and present, as well as educational classroom activities for parents and teachers.

The Mayor, working with London’s boroughs, Transport for London and other key stakeholders, has made significant progress in improving air quality in London. Emissions of NOx (Oxides of Nitrogen) have been reduced by 20% and PM10 by 15% with the Mayor introducing tough new Low Emission Zone standards, cleaner buses and retiring 3,000 of the oldest, most polluting taxis from the capital’s road network.

New research released by the Mayor shows that his measures to improve London’s air quality has resulted in the number of Londoners living in areas exceeding EU limit values of NO2 to have more than halved since 2008. However, air pollution does remain a major challenge for a global city with a rising population and 1.7 million Londoners continue to live in areas exceeding the limit values for NO2 but that is projected to decrease to around 300,000 Londoners by 2020.

The Mayor said: “Real progress has been made in improving London’s air quality in recent years, but as an expanding global city that is grappling with population growth, there are some big challenges ahead. Londoners and the capital’s businesses have a hugely important role to play in reducing emissions and thanks to this new website for the first time we have the tools to help do this. I encourage everyone who’s passionate about improving the air we breathe to log on and check out what ‘Cleaner Air for London’ has to offer.”

via ‘New website can help Londoners and businesses reduce air pollution’, says Mayor | Greater London Authority.

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