More evidence links ozone pollution to premature death

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

People who live in cities where the air is polluted by factories and traffic fumes may not live as long as they would have with cleaner air, a recent study suggests.

Researchers focused on ozone, an unstable form of oxygen produced when various types of traffic and industrial pollution react with sunlight. Worldwide, about four in five people in urban areas are exposed to ozone levels that exceed safe levels recommended by the World Health Organization, the study team notes in The BMJ.

The study looked at ozone levels and deaths in 406 cities in 20 countries around the world. It found that overall, about 6,000 deaths a year in those cities could be prevented if stricter air quality standards reduced ozone levels below the WHO-recommended maximum of 100 micrograms per cubic meter of air (mcg/m3).

“Our study confirms the evidence from previous studies on the adverse health impacts associated to the exposure to ground-level ozone,” said lead study author Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera of the University of Bern in Switzerland.

“Patients should be aware of the risks of the exposure to high levels of ozone, in particular when their health is already compromised,” Videco-Cabrera said by email.

Air pollution has long been linked to higher risks of heart attacks, strokes, asthma attacks and other respiratory problems with the potential to shorten people’s lifespan. Less is known, however, about how much exposure to ozone levels higher than WHO limits might directly impact longevity, the study team notes.

In the current study, researchers examined data on ozone levels and more than 45 million deaths between 1985 and 2015.

On average, a 10 mcg/m3 increase in ozone during the current and previous day was associated with a 0.18% increased risk of death, the study team found.

Even when cities had ozone concentrations below WHO limits, levels between 70mcg/m3 and 100mcg/m3 were still associated with an increased risk of death during the study period. This suggests that even stricter air quality standards might be needed, the study team concludes.

The study wasn’t designed to determine whether or how ozone exposure might cause premature deaths.

The researchers also didn’t have enough data from certain regions of the world, including South America, Africa, and the Middle East, to craft a truly global estimate of how ozone exposure impacts longevity. The ozone assessment also didn’t look at outdoor versus indoor air quality.

“We don’t fully understand the entire pathway from ozone exposure to mortality,” said Dr. Frank Gilliland, a researcher at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles who wasn’t involved in the study.

“We do know that ozone is a toxic gas that produces airway and systemic oxidative damage and inflammation when inhaled these adverse effects are likely to have large impacts on those with health problems such as respiratory conditions or who are frail from aging,” Gilliland said by email.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2UKNecD The BMJ, online February 10, 2020.

via More evidence links ozone pollution to premature death – Reuters

Posted in Air Quality, Health Effects of Air Pollution, Medical Studies | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Cairo car drivers exposed to dangerous levels of pollution, new study finds

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

Car drivers in Cairo are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution, finds an unprecedented new study from the University of Surrey.

Greater Cairo, which is the sixth largest city in the world, is home to 2.4 million cars and it is thought that particulate matter (PM) concentration – i.e. air pollution – is the cause of around 10 per cent of premature deaths in Egypt.

In the study ‘Car users’ exposure to particulate matter and gaseous air pollutants in megacity Cairo’ published in Sustainable Cities and Society, a team led by Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), together with the American University in Cairo, investigated the contributing factors that determine particulate matter (PM) exposure levels while in a vehicle – for different car settings (open window, closed window, or with air conditioning (AC) on), during different times of the day and across various commuter routes (cross city and inner city).

The results found that Cairo motorists who drive with their windows open can be exposed to 65 per cent more PM10 (coarse particles) and 48 per cent more PM2.5 (fine particles) than those who drive with windows closed and the AC on. However, many car owners simply do not have AC in their vehicles and are exposed to levels of PM10 and PM2.5 as high as 227 and 119 μg/m3 while driving through cross-city routes.

The study further found that evening peak hours are more congested, causing drivers to get exposed to higher pollution concentrations compared to morning peak hours.

The team also discovered that Cairo’s close proximity to the desert and its low precipitation rates are contributing factors to higher concentration of PM10. GCARE found that areas with high construction activity or unmaintained roads also feature higher levels of PM10.

Professor Prashant Kumar, Founding Director of GCARE at the University of Surrey, said: “Air pollution causes seven million premature deaths worldwide, disproportionately affecting poor and vulnerable communities and exacerbating inequalities in official development assistance (ODA) countries. Knowledge is invaluable in our battle against climate change and air pollution, which is why we hope that our study -the first of its kind – is not the last.”

via Cairo car drivers exposed to dangerous levels of pollution, new study finds | EurekAlert! Science News

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Air pollution has major impact on children in sport, study warns

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

Breathe GB warns of damage to lungs and performance in survey of training grounds

Britain’s future sporting performance could be hampered by air pollution because some training grounds are in areas with dangerously high pollution levels, a report has revealed.

The Breathe GB study analysed pollution levels at 94 sporting sites, with one of the highest recorded levels at Birmingham’s Perry Park, host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Other important training grounds, such as the running track where Sir Mo Farah and Christine Ohuruogu trained, have pollution levels that breach World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits.

The study suggests children exercising in areas of high pollution will experience stunted lung function that will limit their future sporting performance.

Dr Ian Mudway, a senior lecturer in respiratory toxicology at King’s College London, said: “A child growing up with asthma in a polluted city will have worse symptoms that will limit their potential to train … which is likely to have an impact on their optimal level of performance.”

Jonathan Grigg, a professor of paediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University, said: “There is very strong evidence that exposure to air pollution stunts children’s lung function. Children with clinically low lung function will have reduced exercise capacity.”

At the launch of the report on Tuesday morning, Mark Bergin, a PE teacher from Manorfield primary school in Poplar, east London, said: “There are elements that we can see now because there is such an increase in the number of children who have asthma pumps; I’ve noticed that over the last 10 years or so of working in education.”

To produce the report, campaign group The Air Team spoke with senior respiratory consultants, as well as leaders in physical education, to assess the effects of air pollution on children’s lung function and sporting ability.

They also assessed air pollution at 94 sports sites in England and found that 25 broke WHO recommended limits, while 52 came close to the threshold.

Perry Park was the third most polluted of the sites across London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Salford and Sheffield, with an annual mean level of 50 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) a cubic metre of air (μg/m3) – the WHO recommends a safe level of 40μg/m3.

The training grounds of Ridgeway Rovers, where David Beckham and Harry Kane formerly played, and Alpha & Omega FC, Raheem Sterling’s former youth team, have fine particulate matter levels (PM2.5) of 11, above WHO recommended limits.

St Augustine’s Hall, home of the Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets athletics club, had the highest air pollution levels out of those assessed, with 67 NO2 μg/m3.

Ben Paul, an Air Team campaigner who lives in Bloomsbury, central London with his 10-year-old son, said: “It’s like how it took time for the full health impacts of smoking to be understood. I think this could be a ticking time bomb for our children.

“Kids’ lung capacity can reduce by up to 14% if they live in a high pollution area. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get 14% more medals at the next Olympics?”

The Air Team is calling on sports organisations, MPs, schools and athletes to back their Breathe GB campaign. Its spokeswoman, Anella Wickenden, said: “If you care about British sport, you need to care about air pollution.”

via Air pollution has major impact on children in sport, study warns | Environment | The Guardian

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Sofia’s Air is Dangerous Again

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

The air in Sofia was dangerously polluted last night, according to official data from the municipality, BNR reported. Exceedance of the reference limits for the content of fine particulate matter in the air has been reported by all stations except the one in the Kopitoto mountain area and the non-working one in the Nadezhda neighborhood.

Once again, Sofia ranked 18th in the world in terms of air pollution.

The pollution levels are not high enough for a green ticket to be introduced, but other measures, such as checks on construction sites and other industrial and household sources of pollution, will be in place.

According to the European Air Quality Index, except in Sofia, there are also dangerous exceedances of fine particulate matter in Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo, Ruse and Pernik.

via Sofia’s Air is Dangerous Again – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency

Posted in Air Quality, Europe | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Study details how auto emissions pose human health problems worldwide

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ultrafine particles in the atmosphere are unregulated, according to the World Health Organization, but a team of international researchers that includes a Texas A&M University professor and two graduate students has found that auto emissions are a key factor in the creation of the particles, and pose a significant health problem in many urban areas.

Renyi Zhang, Texas A&M distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and the Harold J. Haynes Chair in Geosciences, and colleagues from the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California-San Diego, the California Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University and several Chinese universities have published their work in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team studied auto emissions relevant to urban areas, especially Beijing, which has some of the highest levels of auto exhaust pollution in the world.

It found that auto exhaust plays a part in the creation of large amounts of ultrafine particles. These tiny particles have been proven detrimental to air quality and human health, and have been linked to birth defects.

“This has been an emerging area for research,” Zhang said. “Ultrafine particles can penetrate easily through human lungs and reach many vital organs. The impacts of ultrafine particles on human health can be far-reaching. Currently, ultrafine particles are unregulated. They can be present in high concentrations, but you still see blue sky.”

The air quality standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) only limit the mass concentration of PM2.5—referring to particles smaller than 2.5 microns—for human health concerns. Ultrafine particles have negligibly small masses and are produced more efficiently when the atmospheric PM2.5 levels are low, according to the study.

“Our measurements are representative of typical urban environments worldwide, since the gasoline fleet of the commonly used vehicle models in China is equivalent to those in Europe and the United States,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

“The problem of ultrafine particles is as important in China as in the U.S. Reduction in PM2.5 to improve air quality could exacerbate pollution of ultrafine particles,” Zhang said.

The implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1990 has resulted in noticeable reduction in PM2.5 over the United States. “Protecting public health needs simultaneous reduction in both types of particles,” Zhang said. “Sound science is essential to guide the regulatory policies.”

While finding ways to reduce ultrafine particles will require much more research, Zhang says drivers using electric cars would almost certainly help. But that could be years in the future, since electric vehicles currently make up less than 1 percent of over 1 billion vehicles on roads worldwide.

Zhang said the study shows for the first time “that traffic emissions are a major source for ultrafine particles. Our studies show that aromatic organic compounds from auto exhaust form these ultrafine particles. They form in any cities from car exhaust, such as Houston, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Residents who live close to highways or congested roads are particularly vulnerable.

“This is a frontier area in air pollution. Producing close to 1 million nanoparticles per cc in air is a serious matter of concern,” he said.

via Study details how auto emissions pose human health problems worldwide

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Nearly half of all childhood asthma cases in Barcelona are attributable to air pollution

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

As many as 1,230 cases of childhood asthma in Barcelona–48% of the total–could be attributable to air pollution each year. This is the main conclusion of a new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by “la Caixa”. The study also finds that childhood asthma related to air pollution may have a larger effect on the city’s less socially deprived children.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease and has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. A recent study by ISGlobal, which used the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methodology, found that 33% of new childhood asthma cases in Europe were attributable to air pollution.

The new study used the same quantitative approach to estimate the number of childhood asthma cases in the city of Barcelona attributable to three main air pollutants: nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon (BC). The study, published in Environmental Research, relied on census data for the city of Barcelona. Asthma incidence rates in children between 1 and 18 years of age were collected from the Global Burden of Disease database. Exposure levels for the three pollutants were calculated using a land-use regression model (LUR).

To estimate the burden of childhood asthma, the researchers considered two different scenarios. The first scenario was based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for maximum air pollution exposure levels. The second scenario reflected the minimum levels of air pollution reported in various scientific studies.

In the first scenario, the researchers found that if the WHO guidelines on annual exposure levels were met, as many as 478 childhood asthma cases attributable to PM2.5 (19% of all cases) and 454 cases attributable to NO2 (18%) could be prevented in Barcelona each year. In the second scenario, if air pollution were reduced to the minimum reported levels, as many as 1,230 childhood asthma cases attributable to NO2 (48% of all asthma cases), 992 cases attributable to PM2.5 (39%) and 789 cases attributable to BC (31%) could be prevented in Barcelona each year.

David Rojas, researcher at ISGlobal and the Colorado State University and coordinator of the study, commented: “This is the first quantitative health impact assessment to include multiple pollutants–NO2, PM2.5 and BC–and the development of childhood asthma, with an environmental health equity perspective in Barcelona.”

The study also described the distribution of air pollution impacts on the development of childhood asthma by socioeconomic status. Using the MEDEA index, which incorporates various indicators related to education and employment status, the researchers classified the population of Barcelona by deprivation level. In general, differences between socioeconomic groups were found for all of the air pollutants studied. David Rojas, coordinator of the study, commented: “Our analysis found more air pollution and subsequently more childhood asthma cases among the less disadvantaged groups in the city.” He also added “in Barcelona, unlike other cities, the wealthy population tends to live where more traffic and air pollution are.”

“Road transport is one of the major air pollution sources”, commented Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal. “Barcelona urgently needs interventions to reduce the amount of motor-vehicle traffic, which has a negative impact on the health of the city’s children. “Reducing traffic does not only reduce air pollution, but also reduce noise and heat island effects and increases physical activity which are all beneficial to health”, he adds.

via Nearly half of all childhood asthma cases in Barcelona are attributable to air pollution | EurekAlert! Science News

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North Texans breathed polluted air nearly 30% of 2018, report says

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air quality in Dallas-Fort Worth reached above-normal pollution levels on 106 days, according to the report.

Air quality in Dallas-Fort Worth reached above-normal pollution levels on 106 days in 2018, according to a new report by the Environment Texas Research and Policy Center.

North Texans were among the 108 million Americans who lived in areas that saw more than 100 days of poor air quality in 2018, according to the report.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area’s 106 days of poor air quality put the metropolitan area at No. 10 among the country’s 10 most-populated metro areas with more than 100 days of poor air quality.

The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area in California, east of Los Angeles, took the top spot with 227 days with above-normal pollution levels, according to the report. It was followed by the San Diego area with 160 days.

The Houston area landed in the ninth spot, with 110 days with elevated air pollution.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality did not respond to a request for comment.

Air pollution in North Texas came from several sources, including, gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal and fossil fuels used for transportation, and other industrial processes, according to the report. That pollution creates ozone, which is the main component of smog, and particulate matter.

Particulate matter can have harmful effects on cardiovascular and respiratory systems, leading to health problems such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Ozone pollution can also cause asthma attacks, and even cause lung damage after long-term exposure, according to the EPA.

A separate report released late last year by Environment Texas Research and Policy Center found that industrial facilities in North Texas released 78,737 pounds of pollution into the air during 2017 without a permit authorizing them to do so.

Across Texas, industrial facilities reported releasing more than 63 million pounds of pollution into the air without permission in 2017, an increase of 27 percent compared with the previous year, the report found. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has the authority to issue fines for as much as $2.3 billion for the violations, but the report found that the TCEQ issued only $1.2 million in fines in 2017.

In a changing climate, the center’s latest report warns that days when pollution levels are above normal could increase. Warmer weather, for example, could help the formation of ozone, and drier conditions combined with warm weather could also increase how often wildfires occur and how intense they could be, the report said.

via North Texans breathed polluted air nearly 30% of 2018, report says

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Global Transport of Smoke from Australian Bushfires

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Respro® UK Ltd

 

The local impacts of the Australian bushfires have been devastating to property and life in Australia while producing extreme air quality impacts throughout the region. As smoke from the massive fires has interacted with the global weather, the transport of smoke plumes around the global have accelerated through deep vertical transport into the upper troposphere and even the lowermost stratosphere, leading to long-range transport around the globe. The smoke from these bushfires will travel across the Southern Ocean completing a global circumnavigation back around to Australia and is particularly pronounced across the southern Pacific Ocean out to South America.

Posted in Air Quality, Australia & Oceania, World News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment