Respro® Bulletin Board

Air pollution advisory issued for southern Minnesota

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is watching a stagnant weather pattern over southern Minnesota that is increasing air pollution.

The MPCA has issued an air advisory through midday Saturday for the southern two-thirds of Minnesota because of increased levels of fine-particle pollution. There’s not enough wind to disperse the particles, and the snow melt adds to the problem.

Cassie McMahon, air pollution research analyst for the MPCA, said that added moisture in the air tends to hold pollution in place. The bad air could cause problems for certain groups, she said.

“That includes people with pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular disease,” McMahon said.

Fine-particle pollution is produced mainly from combustion, including vehicle or equipment exhaust and wood burning.

via Air pollution advisory issued for southern Minn. | Minnesota Public Radio News.

Posted in Air Quality, USA & Canada | Tagged Air Pollution, Minnesota, MPCA, USA, vehicle emissions, wood burning | Leave a comment

Court reserves UK air quality ruling

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

The Supreme Court has reserved judgement on the UK’s breaches of EU air pollution laws.

The government admits air quality laws will be breached in 15 regions until 2020.

Londoners will have to wait until 2025 for pollution to enter legal limits.

Pollution levels in affected areas are a health risk to people on many of Britain’s busiest streets, especially those with heart or lung problems.

The government says the laws are unrealistically strict.

The BBC understands that it also believes the European Commission is partly to blame because it did not set proper limits on pollution from diesel exhausts in the first place.

The High Court and later the Court of Appeal refused to take action on the issue, ruling that enforcement was a matter for the European Commission.

An environment charity, ClientEarth, will now argue in the Supreme Court that the national courts must enforce EU environment law in the UK.

About 29,000 early deaths each year in the UK are blamed on air pollution – more than obesity and alcohol combined (although air pollution tends to shorten people’s lives by a shorter time).

Pollution from road traffic, particularly diesel fumes, is the most significant cause of poor air quality in most cities. The pollutants of most concern are tiny airborne particles, “PM10s”, and nitrogen dioxide.

via BBC News – Court reserves UK air quality ruling.

Posted in Air Quality, London, UK | Tagged Air Pollution, diesel exhaust fumes, EU - European Union, European Commission, London, PM10, UK | Leave a comment

Ministers face legal challenge over pollution

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

A Supreme Court challenge to the Government’s air quality plans began today as activists warned that the health of thousands of Londoners is at risk.

Clean air campaigners hope the case will force ministers to do more to reduce air pollution, thought to result in nearly 30,000 early deaths a year.

The Government is failing to stick to European Union limits for nitrogen dioxide emissions. James Thornton, of environmental lawyers ClientEarth, said: “Air pollution is an invisible killer that causes heart attacks and strokes, stops children’s lungs from growing properly and is linked to low birth weight.”

The appeal covers 16 UK regions, including London, where activists say clean air targets will not be met until 2025, 15 years late. The environment department said: “Air quality has improved significantly in recent decades and most of the UK meets EU air quality limits. Our plans for nitrogen dioxide set out all the important work being done to meet EU standards in the shortest possible time.”

via Ministers face legal challenge over pollution – Politics – News – London Evening Standard.

Posted in Air Quality, London, UK | Tagged Air Pollution, EU - European Union, London, UK | Leave a comment

Hong Kong Expects Very High Air Pollution Over Next Couple Days

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

The weather will continue to be “calm” and “air dispersion will remain poor,” causing the air pollution indexes in Hong Kong to be at very high levels in the next couple of days, the city’s Environmental Protection Department said in a statement on the government website.

The roadside pollution index was 189 for Causeway Bay, 177 in the Central business district and 132 in Mong Kok as of 8 a.m. local time today, according to the statement.

The government recommends people with heart or respiratory illnesses and the elderly and children to avoid outdoor activities when the pollution index reading rises above 100.

via Hong Kong Expects Very High Air Pollution Over Next Couple Days – Businessweek.

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

Supreme court may force UK to act on air pollution

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

The supreme court could force the government to take steps to urgently reduce dangerous air pollution in many British cities to meet European limits, following a landmark hearing this week.

The case, to be heard by five law lords, coincides with government warnings that toxic air pollution has been at “high” levels across much of England and Wales this week, including London, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Swansea, Bristol and other cities.

ClientEarth, a group of campaigning lawyers that has brought the case, will say that the government has a legal duty to comply with EU timescales and its plans to reduce pollution are woefully inadequate.

It will say that the government has known that air pollution from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulates now kill as many people each year in Britain as obesity and road accidents combined. The EU legislation was passed into European law in 1999 and Britain should have complied by 2010. However, it has refused even to apply for an extension until January 2015.

Government lawyers are expected to argue that Britain is under no legal obligation to meet air pollution time limits set by Brussels and that it is impossible to meet the targets.

The case is considered legally important because it could allow the government to delay the implementation of many other EU environment laws and directives, including those concerning river and beach water quality, waste and carbon emissions.

The UK accepts that under its current air-quality plans, London will not meet its legal limit to reduce NO2 pollution until 2025. Most other urban regions and cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and and Glasgow, will not comply until 2020.

However, the government argues that it is taking action. “The UK’s air-quality plans on nitrogen dioxide are being challenged this week by ClientEarth in the supreme court, having been upheld in the high court and court of appeal. Our air quality has improved significantly in recent decades and most of the UK meets EU air-quality limits for all pollutants. Our plans for nitrogen dioxide set out all the important work being done to meet EU standards in the shortest possible time,” said a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

continue reading Supreme court may force UK to act on air pollution | Environment | The Guardian.

Posted in Air Quality, London, UK | Tagged Air Pollution, Birmingham, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), EU - European Union, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nitrogen Dioxide NO2, UK | Leave a comment

Shanghai to curb air pollution

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Local government bodies will have to stop using around 30 percent of their vehicles on seriously polluted days, or when the Air Quality Index is above 300, under a new regulation to be released soon, said Zhang Quan, the bureau’s director.

Plate numbers of the vehicles involved will be published so the measure can be supervised by the environmental authority and the public, Zhang told a preparatory meeting of the annual National People’s Congress, which begins today.

“The regulation includes a series of emergency response measures to curb air pollution at hazardous levels and it will come into effect within three months,” Zhang told Shanghai Daily.

Some factories will be suspended and construction sites will have to stop work. Some outdoor activities across the city will also be cancelled when the index exceeds 300.

Air quality is “good” when the index is below 100, “moderate” between 150 and 200, and “hazardous” when the index is over 300.

Since the beginning of the year, Shanghai has encountered about 15 days of polluted air when the index was above 100.

On January 16, it surged to 254, a record high since its introduction last November.

The city government is also to scrap more vehicles that do not meet emission standards and has asked local construction sites to take measures to control dust, Zhang said.

There are also plans to upgrade city taxis to control exhaust emissions, he said.

A pollution tax should be levied on factories, Zhang said.

via Shanghai to curb air pollution – China.org.cn.

Posted in Air Quality, Asia, China | Tagged Air Pollution, Air Quality Index (AQI), China, Shanghai, vehicle emissions | Leave a comment

Choking to Death: Health Consequences of Air Pollution in China

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

In the past few months, I wrote about the food the Chinese eat, and, more recently, Liz Economy wrote about the water the Chinese drink. But the air that the Chinese breathe is now a major concern. As the nearly 3,000 delegates of the National People’s Congress NPC arrive in Beijing to attend the yearly event to formally endorse nominees for key government leadership posts and important national policies, it would be hard for them to ignore the poor air quality in the country’s capital. Last Thursday morning, readings near Tiananmen Square measured the concentration of PM2.5—fine particles in the air that are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and are considered dangerous because they tend to penetrate the gas exchange regions of the lungs—at 469 micrograms per cubic meter, which corresponds to a U.S. EPA Air Quality Index reading of 479 the scale stops at 500. Anything above 301 is considered “hazardous” in that it can cause “serious aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly,” and there is a “serious risk of respiratory effects in general population.” The PM2.5 levels in other famously polluted cities pale in comparison to those in Beijing; for instance, the highest PM2.5 level in a 24-period recorded in Los Angeles was 43 micrograms per cubic meter.

The poor air quality, according to a leading Chinese public health expert, is worse than SARS because nobody can escape it. Research suggests that air pollution can raise the risk of cardio-respiratory death by 2 to 3 percent for every increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of pollutants. Only 1 percent of China’s 560 million urban residents breathe air considered safe by European Union, according to a 2007 World Bank study. A report released by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection in November 2010 showed that about one-third of 113 cities failed to meet national air standards.The 2012 Cancer Registry Annual Report revealed that lung cancer is top among all types of cancer in terms of the number of cases and deaths in China. Indeed, the number of lung cancer-caused mortality in China has increased by 465 percent in the past three decades. In Beijing, the number of lung cancer patients has increased by 60 percent in the last ten years. The rising incidence rate of lung cancer coincides with drastic reduction in the incidence rates of stomach cancer and cervical cancer, which is thought to be a result of improvements in public health standards.

continue reading Asia Unbound » Choking to Death: Health Consequences of Air Pollution in China.

Posted in Air Quality, Asia, China | Tagged Air Pollution, Beijing, China, PM2.5 | Leave a comment

Brooklyn pleads for tough action on air pollution

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

For many decades an ill wind has blown in Brooklyn.

The suburb, in Melbourne’s west, suffers from a level of air pollution caused by a nearby industrial estate north of Geelong Road that soars well above national health standards and levels elsewhere in the city.

But, despite the Environment Protection Authority’s concerted efforts to address the problem, residents are alarmed by recent data showing days of high dust pollution are again on the rise.

With concerns over the pollution’s effect on health, more locals are calling on the Baillieu government to step in and tackle the problem once and for all.

Carmen Largaiolli said she and other Brooklyn residents had put up with cars and houses covered in dust for years. She said a fine black soot continually built up on the window sills and in the bathroom of her house.

”We’ve got a Third World zone nine kilometres from the Melbourne CBD,” she said.

In the second half of last year there were 19 days in Brooklyn that exceeded air quality objectives for PM10 dust particles, which are less than one-tenth the diameter of a hair. The World Health Organisation warns high PM10 exposure should be limited to fewer than five days a year.

On days when the pollution is at its worst residents are warned to stay inside, leave windows and doors shut, and avoid outdoor exercise.

Health authorities say exposure to high PM10 levels contributes to the risk of developing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

One of the ways in which the EPA is tackling the problem is by handing out draft pollution abatement notices to businesses that lag in introducing measures to control dust pollution.

continue reading Brooklyn pleads for tough action on air pollution.