No-burn season is just around the corner

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

The valley’s no-burn seasons starts Nov. 1.

Before firing up a wood burning stove, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District asks residents to check at San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Depending on air quality forecasts, the air district prohibits residential wood burning, including the use of fireplaces, wood-burning heaters, pellet stoves and outdoor devices such as fire pits.

Burning wood on no-burn days can result in a fine. Exceptions are granted to residents without access to natural-gas service or for whom burning solid fuel is their sole source of heat.

The wood-burning curtailment program is critical in minimizing levels of harmful particulate matter in the eight-county air basin, according to regional air quality officials.

via No-burn season is just around the corner – Local – MercedSun-Star.com.

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Air Pollution In Costa Rica Exceeds WHO Standard: Report

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution in Costa Rica’s capital San Jose has exceeded the standard level set by the World Health Organisation(WHO) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a study said Tuesday.

The concentration of atmospheric particulate matter, or PM2.5, in the air reaches as high as 31 microgrammes per cubic metre (31mcg/m3), while international norms say there should be no more than 10mcg/m3, according to the study compiled by Costa Rica’s Autonomous National University.

It also warned of an increase in air pollution from nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic gas.

via BERNAMA – Air Pollution In Costa Rica Exceeds WHO Standard: Report.

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FAQ: These bendy nose things, how far should I bend them?

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

These bendy nose things, how far should I bend them?

The malleable nose clip deforms easily so that a good fit can be formed around the bridge of the nose. Continuous or exaggerated deformation will eventually cause failure in the metal – it will snap. Once a good fit has been found, it is best to maintain the shape, rather than folding it flat when storing it or when not in use.

For more FAQ,  go to Respro® Mask FAQ

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South Africa: Govt Needs to Be Tough on Air Polluters – Mabudafhasi

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

Rusteburg — Air pollution is still a scourge confronting South Africa, says Water and Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi.

“It’s a serious challenge. We know we are a developing country. Industrially, South Africa is developing very fast and all of this is polluting our air and that is why we need to have measures in place to control all of this,” Mabudafhasi told SANews on Monday on the side-lines of the annual air quality governance lekgotla in Rustenburg, North West.

Government, she stressed, needed to be tough on air polluters.”

Mining and industrial regions such as the North West and Gauteng are developing very fast and that’s why we are targeting them.”

Mabudafhasi said government used the lekgotla in various provinces to raise awareness on the importance of air quality, something she said was in line with the country’s climate response policy approved by Cabinet earlier this year.

South Africans, particularly those living in urban areas, needed to know the importance of clean air and the consequences of air pollution.

via allAfrica.com: South Africa: Govt Needs to Be Tough on Air Polluters – Mabudafhasi.

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SHANGHAI: Air pollution worst in 6 months

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

SHANGHAI has been experiencing some of its most serious and long-lasting air pollution in months, as well as weather conditions that have contributed to thick clouds and a haze that has grounded some flights and led to vehicular crashes which killed at least one person and injured dozens.

Some expressways were closed from 3am to 9am yesterday because fog and haze created dangerous driving conditions, causing vehicles to line up for kilometers, according to the Shanghai highway authority.

Serious pollution that started on Saturday may continue today, though conditions may improve tomorrow, forecasters said.

The PM2.5 readings of tiny airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers started to rise on Saturday afternoon and exceeded 300 micrograms per cubic meter yesterday morning, four times the standard for good air quality, which is 75 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center.

All 10 monitoring stations for PM2.5 across Shanghai turned on a purple light to indicate the second-highest level in the six-color alert system, meaning serious air pollution. That means those with some health conditions such as pulmonary problems may want to stay indoors when possible.

via Eastday-Air pollution worst in 6 months.

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Distant air pollution might bite NorCal farmers

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

Northern California farmers might have to replace their tractors and other diesel equipment in a few years, because of how bad the air pollution is in the San Joaquin Valley and Los Angles basin.

The Butte County Air Quality Management District board got that news last week at the end of a board-requested review of the history of air pollution controls imposed on farmers.

County Air Pollution Control Officer Jim Wagoner told the board the so-called “tractor rules” were the newest and final piece of a series of regulations being developed by the state Air Resources Board to reduce diesel emissions, which have been ruled to be toxic.

The “In-Use, Off-Road Mobile Ag Equipment Regulation” has been in development since this summer, and the current timeline would see them being approved in December 2013.

Wagoner reported the ARB claims it committed to clean up diesel fumes in a 2007 agreement with the federal government over violations of the Clean Air Act.

via Distant air pollution might bite NorCal farmers – Daily Democrat Online.

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In Hong Kong, confronting pollution’s risks

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

The day’s air pollution, not the weather, is arguably the favorite topic of discussion among Hong Kong locals.

For casual observers, the level of pollution on a given day is often determined simply by looking at Victoria Harbor. If the skyscrapers on the other side of the water are not visible and instead shrouded in a gray haze, that is probably a bad day to be breathing.

Of course, there is the government’s Air Pollution Index, a more technical and accurate gauge that residents can check online. It provides a score for the air of various districts, a rating of low to very high levels of pollution and the highest contributing pollutant in a given area, which is often “respirable suspended particulates” or “ozone.”

But some experts say not only does the government’s API, which is based on a system developed by the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S., use an outdated standard to report pollution severity, but to the public, the figures posted are just that: numbers that are too abstract.

People here “don’t have very strong feelings about the current API because they do not know what it means when the API reaches very high,” said Melonie Chau, the senior environmental affairs officer at the local chapter of Friends of the Earth.

A group of academics have tried to solve this problem, as well as to provide a system that is more accurate and relevant, by developing a new index, based on Canada’s Air Quality Health Index. This new AQHI, which was commissioned by the Hong Kong government, was proposed in 2009 by the scientists but has yet to be implemented.

The index takes pollutant measurements and translates them into more concrete health implications. The idea was to show, almost in real time, the likely rate of hospital admissions attributable to the amount of four pollutants present in the air, which are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter.

But most practical for the public, the new index will give advice on lifestyle changes based on pollution conditions outside.

via In Hong Kong, confronting pollution’s risks | SmartPlanet.

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Proposals to boost air quality From This Is Wiltshire

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Respro® UK Ltd

Pollution levels are above the government limits in two areas of Calne, according to tests carried out by environmental health officers.

After an assessment published in June, officers identified areas of concern in New Road and from Curzon Street to Wood Street.

It means Wiltshire Council will have to decide whether to introduce an air quality management area, a boundary in which action to combat pollution levels will be taken.

Of two options for the zone, the first would begin at the junction of North Street with Alma Terrace, and head down North Street, Wood Street and Curzon Street along the A4 eastwards as far as the double roundabout at the junction with Silver Street.

via Proposals to boost air quality From This Is Wiltshire.

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