Majority of Londoners say pollution has hit health as doctors demand ‘bold action’

Posted on June 21, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

More than half of Londoners say their health has been worsened by air pollution, it was revealed today.

Eight out of 10 people also believe that combating toxic air should be a priority, according to research for the capital’s 33 boroughs to mark Clean Air Day.

It came as doctors called on Mayor Sadiq Khan to extend the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) to the suburbs next year — a year earlier than planned — and to do more to clean up the capital’s bus fleet.

The annual research for London Councils found awareness of air pollution had risen to 92 per cent of respondents, its highest level.

Almost one in three parents say they take local pollution levels into account when choosing a school for their children, up from 22 per cent three years ago.

Mr Khan today revealed plans for London’s biggest car-free day, when 12 miles of roads in central London, including Tower Bridge, will be closed to traffic on Sunday September 22.

But he came under attack from the British Medical Association, which said it was “disappointed” by the delay in radical measures to reduce pollution.

The BMA, the doctors’ union, said there needed to be many more hydrogen-cell buses and suggested arterial roads that could only be used by “green” forms of public transport, with private cars banned.

Dr Gary Marlow, BMA London regional council chairman, said: “Air pollution is already having measurable effects on respiratory health, and we believe that unless you take the ‘bold and innovative action’ you have promised, this phenomenon is likely to increase greatly.”

Eighteen boroughs will hold events to mark Car-Free Day, such as closing roads for the day to create “play streets”. Many roads around City Hall and in the City of London will be closed.

Dr Audrey de Nazelle, from Imperial College London, said: “Being aware of the scale of air pollution health problems is not enough. Actually living the joys of a car-free or car-less city will do much more to create a positive vision of what a future healthy London could be like.”

Mr Khan, in a veiled attack on the 15 boroughs which are refusing to participate, said: “Hopefully this will shame into life those boroughs with outdated views who are dragging their feet.”

via Majority of Londoners say pollution has hit health as doctors demand ‘bold action’ | London Evening Standard

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Midrand’s ‘airpocalypse’ a reality with toxic air

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

On an air pollution scale, anything between zero and 20 is safe to breathe. At 300 things are labelled ‘airpocalypse’. In Midrand, Gauteng, pollution levels regularly hit 1 000.
Sipho Kings used data, a bicycle and a helicopter to see just how bad the air is.

It’s midnight on a weeknight in February, before the cold snap of autumn throws a toxic blanket over the highveld. I’m in a helicopter that’s circling a factory complex in Midrand, that rapidly growing area of gated communities, industry and established townships between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The grid pattern of these areas play out across the horizon thanks to the dull yellow street lights of affluent suburbs, and the excessive light of floodlights in Tembisa.

Everything else is swallowed up in an otherwise inky-black night. Over 100 000 people live in the immediate vicinity. The helicopter’s crew are hunting air pollution with a thermal air pollution camera. A small but heavy machine, it spits out results on a screen that lights up the cockpit — much of Midrand is painted in a white that means little pollution. The smoke from the factory complex is a dark black funnel on the screen. The night is still. Warm. So the funnel goes straight up into the sky. On windy nights, and in winter, it gets trapped and sits over people’s homes as they lie in bed breathing deep lungfuls of air in their sleep.

Factories tend to do their worst polluting at night — something I’ve found out from communities living near factories around the country. At night you can smell the rotten egg of sulphur dioxide, but you can’t see it. The camera and helicopter are from SkyBee, a company that invested in tools for testing for air pollution but couldn’t find anyone willing to use their data — even the companies that they have documented releasing excessive pollutants.

Some pollution is fine. Factories get an allowance of how much of different pollutants, like that smelly sulphur dioxide, that they can release. Bigger factories have taller smokestacks that sends their pollution high into the sky where, in theory, it dissipates over a wide area and has less of a health impact. But smaller factories and workshops have smaller smokestacks. Many are also unregulated, so release deadly pollutants at ground level. With more and more factories and offices using diesel generators, this is also a source of largely unregulated air pollution.

The SkyBee camera picks all of this up. It’s so good that the evidence could be used in court — be that by the environment department, or civil society groups. The department is working on this kind of technology but relies on air pollution sensors on the ground, which cannot say who is responsible for what pollution. For now, the small number of enforcement officials are spending their time chasing down big polluters, such as ArcelorMittal, Sasol and Eskom. This means that the factories we fly over can escape consequences for their pollution.

In Midrand, these factories, as well as the increasing number of people burning wood and coal as the price of electricity soars, are creating a toxic soup.

To get an idea of the numbers involved here, the Mail & Guardian has partnered with a Paris-based startup, Plume Labs. It takes a mix of data from ground sensors and satellites to paint a picture of air pollution. The main pollutants are PM 2.5 particles (as thin as a strand of human hair), PM 10 particles, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

Plume ranks the levels of these on its own index, between zero and 300. Zero to 20 is healthy air. Up to 50 is healthy for most people but not for people with problems such as asthma. By 100, breathing polluted air for extended periods of time means dirty pollutants lodging in your lungs and breaking you down from the inside out. The World Health Organisation says this pollution kills seven million people a year — 20 000 in South Africa. And even if it doesn’t kill you, it’s breaking down blood vessels and your lungs. That makes everyone more susceptible to other health problems, like cancer.

At 300, the index stops. The air is rated at ‘airpocalypse’ levels; extended exposure is killing you. For Midrand, Plume shares 17 months worth of data, covering January 2018 to this May. Pollution is measured every three hours and makes up nearly 4 000 data points for each pollutant.

The levels of PM 2.5 go as high as 1 051 — 52 times the safe level of 20 — and they do this on 3 902 of the 3 946 data points. The levels of PM 10 go to 935 and go over the safe 20 level on 3 712 occasions. Sulphur dioxide levels are over 20 on 2 422 occasions.

On the night that we’re in that helicopter, the level of PM 2.5 peaks at 1am at 224. Levels of PM 10 go to 201 — where exposure for more than an hour does permanent damage to your airways.

This means that people in Midrand are consistently breathing toxic air.

By coincidence, I got to try this out two weeks ago, with a bike race next door to the very same factory that we circled around with an air pollution camera. Getting there in the morning means driving towards the rising sun, with its rays scattered in clouds of pollution particles. The smell alone points to a mix of burnt wood, coal, car exhausts and heavier, industrial chemicals. At the race, I strap on a personal air quality sensor to my shirt, next to where I’m breathing. Also made by Plume, it tells you what you’re breathing and does it accurately. The dust thrown up by hundreds of bicycles sends PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels over 100.

Luckily, I can’t see the results as I suck in deep lungfuls of air, trying to balance coughing constantly with getting enough oxygen to pedal harder. At the end of the race, as exhausted cyclists splay out on the floor, the amount of nitrogen dioxide — from the nearby road and the hundreds of cars now making their way away from the bike race —heads into dangerous levels.

This is all on top of what is already toxic air.

via Midrand’s ‘airpocalypse’ a reality with toxic air | News | Environment | M&G

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Air pollution remains too high in nearly 60 German cities – environment agency

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

The level of air pollution, mostly due to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions from traffic, has exceeded European limit values in 57 German cities in 2018, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has found. However, the number of cities with emissions levels above the threshold of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre has fallen from 65 in the year before, the UBA says. “The air quality in our cities is improving and trends are pointing in the right direction,” said UBA president Maria Krautzberger. “But you can also see that the measures agreed on so far are insufficient to abide by the EU-limit value for NO2 in the annual average to protect public health,” Krautzberger added. She said there not only had to be more software updates for manipulated diesel cars, a major source of NO2, but also mechanical retrofits of older diesel cars with catalysers. She called on carmakers to “support customers financially” in doing so. While NO2 emissions in the annual average sunk below the EU limit in 13 cities, they were climbing back up again in others, including bigger cities like Leipzig or Ulm. The UBA warned that other sources of pollution also had to be taken into account more, for instance wood burning in private households, agriculture, and tyre wear particles from cars.

Several German cities had to introduce diesel bans on certain roads after a court ruled that this was necessary to bring down pollution levels. The German government has tried to avoid bans by implementing several measures aimed at reducing emissions levels. Scientists remain sceptical about the effectiveness of driving bans to bring down pollution levels, with many advocating for a city toll instead to reduce traffic volumes across the board. Already in January, the UBA stated that nitrogen dioxide emissions in the country had been in decline in 2018, citing local measures such as speed limits, traffic restrictions, renewal of vehicle fleets and the weather as reasons.

via Air pollution remains too high in nearly 60 German cities – environment agency | Clean Energy Wire

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1 in 5 traffic police has respiratory problems: Study

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Over 20 per cent of them were found vulnerable to moderate to severe health issues.

The erratic work timings and pressure, which goes on for over 10 hours, and the air pollution working as a catalyst often make the Delhi traffic police personnel prone to health problems.

Adding to it, PM 2.5 levels have crossed the severe and above severe mark in Metro cities, including Delhi. This is adversely affecting the health of the traffic cops.

According to a study by BLK Super Specialty Hospital, the unhealthy working conditions combined with the rising air pollution, stress, and changing lifestyle have made the Delhi police personnel vulnerable to health problems.

During a health check-up camp organised by BLK, it was revealed that at least one in five traffic policemen in Delhi were suffering from respiratory problems. Further, orthopaedic and cardiovascular problems were also detected in few of the 200 policemen checked. Over 20 per cent of them were found vulnerable to moderate to severe health issues.

“The camp saw a footfall of about 200 traffic policemen, who came out here to get themselves checked out for any kind of ailment so as to maintain good health, which in turn affects the quality of work.

“The pulmonary function test revealed that nearly 35-40 of the 200 suffered from breathing problems. Lung congestion, asthma, and throat irritation were the common problems detected. We found that mainly they were victims of respiratory problems, high cholesterol, hypertension, and high sugar levels. Some of them suffered joints pains and displayed low bone density owing to their jobs that involve standing for long duration. We have advised them to take medication and go for some other tests for better treatment and care,” said Dr Sandeep Nayar, the director and HOD of BLK Centre for Chest and Respiratory Diseases.

A senior Delhi traffic police official said, “It becomes very hectic for traffic officials as they come to their duty at 7.30 am in the morning and wind up at 10.00 pm, giving more than 12 hours of shift. Further, dealing with the climate and pollution on Delhi roads is not an easy task.”

“Occupational hazards have made our traffic enforcers’ life difficult. With harsh weather conditions, dust, pollution, heat, and cold, they are at a higher risk of developing health problems.

“A large number of policemen were not even aware of their deteriorating health. They were advised to wear good quality pollution masks while performing their duty, do yoga and breathing exercises, and eat healthy food,” added Dr Nayar.

The Delhi traffic police personnel have been advised by doctors to adopt a healthy lifestyle and wear good quality anti-pollution masks while on duty in view of the rising poisonous vehicular emissions.

via 1 in 5 traffic police has respiratory problems: Study

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Tiny toxic particles linger in Mumbai’s air longer

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution is quickly becoming one of the biggest problems to be tackled by Maharashtra, which saw 1.08 lakh air pollution-related deaths in 2017, according to a Lancet study.

Mumbai’s air had more fine pollutant particles that easily enter the human body than Delhi did in 2018.

The percentage share of the tiny polluting PM2.5 particles (particulate matter of the size 2.5 microns) in the slightly larger PM10 (more than 10 micrometres in diameter) pollutant particles was at an annual average of 60% in Mumbai, 55% in Ahmedabad, 53% in Pune, and 49% in Delhi in 2018, according to data released by the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) at an air quality conference in Goa last week.

To be sure, the absolute levels for PM2.5 and PM10 individually in each city was much more in Delhi when compared to Mumbai. However, due to meteorological factors in Mumbai, which allowed the tinier, deadlier pollutants to stay in the air longer, the percentage share of PM2.5 in PM10 was higher for the city, said SAFAR researchers.

Screen Shot 2019-06-17 at 09.26.09.png

“Mumbai had the highest share of finer toxic particles (PM2.5), which are more hazardous to health, in total PM10 across 2018,” said Gufran Beig, project director, SAFAR. Beig said the high humidity allowed the finer pollutant particles to get suspended in Mumbai’s air for longer. Independent researchers also validated the findings of the study. “High moisture and temperature allows these finer particles to be trapped along with emissions from combustion sources, in the city’s air for longer as compared to other landlocked cities,” said Polash Mukerjee, lead (air pollution), Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) India.

Air pollution is quickly becoming one of the biggest problems to be tackled by Maharashtra, which saw 1.08 lakh air pollution-related deaths in 2017, according to a Lancet study.

via Tiny toxic particles linger in Mumbai’s air longer | mumbai news | Hindustan Times

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International travelers experience the harmful effects of air pollution

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Even a short stay for travelers in cities with high levels of air pollution leads to breathing problems that can take at least a week from which to recover, a new study shows.

Led by researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the study is the first of its kind, say the authors, to analyze pollution-related coughing and breathing difficulties, and recovery times upon returning home, in healthy, young adults traveling internationally.

Published earlier this month in the Journal of Travel Medicine, the finding is timely given that the number of tourists travelling internationally is expected to grow to 1.8 billion by 2030, according to the World Tourism Organization.

“We had several reports that tourists were feeling sick when visiting polluted cities, so it became important for us to understand what was really happening to their health,” says senior study investigator Terry Gordon, PhD, a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU Langone Health.

For the study, researchers analyzed six measurements of lung and heart health in 34 men and women traveling abroad for at least a week from the metropolitan New York City area. Most were visiting family in cities with consistently high levels of air pollution, including Ahmedabad and New Delhi, India; Rawalpindi, Pakistan; and Xian, China.

Some destinations studied — Beijing, Shanghai, and Milan — are heavily polluted during certain months but have relatively cleaner air at other times. Other, mostly European, destinations such as Geneva, London; San Sebastien, Spain; Copenhagen; Prague; Stockholm; Oslo; and Reykjavik had consistently lower levels of air pollution. The research team noted that New York City has relatively low levels of air pollution, in part because of strict regulations, its location on the coast, and weather patterns.

Specifically, the study found that being in a polluted city reduced measures of lung function by an average of 6 percent and by as much as 20 percent in some people. Participants also ranked their respiratory symptoms from one (mild) to five (requiring treatment), reporting a cumulative average symptom score of eight.

People who visited the highly polluted cities reported as many as five symptoms, while those who visited lower pollution cities had fewer or none. Two patients sought medical attention because of their symptoms. The pollution levels of the cities studied did not make a significant difference in the blood pressure of visitors, researchers say.

All study participants had a normal body mass index (between 21 and 29 for men, and between 18 and 26 for women), and none had preexisting health conditions. Before embarking on their travels, all were taught how to measure their lung function and heart rate daily using commercially available spirometers (to measure lung function), wrist blood pressure monitors, and heart rate sensors. Researchers then compared the health data against levels of air pollution collected from local government agencies.

The researchers used international standards to categorize highly polluted cities as those having more than 100 micrograms per cubic meter of particulate matter (PM), or air pollution dust. Moderate pollution is anything between 35 and 100 micrograms per cubic meter of PM, and low pollutions levels are anything less than that.

“What travelers should know is that the potential effects of air pollution on their health are real and that they should take any necessary precautions they can,” says study lead investigator M.J. Ruzmyn Vilcassim, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental Medicine.

Gordon suggests that those visiting highly polluted cities should consider wearing masks or consult a doctor prior to travel if they have preexisting respiratory or cardiac health difficulties, and to consider avoiding travel during certain months. For instance, farmers burn their fields during the winter months in New Delhi, India, raising levels of pollutants in the city.

Although participants gradually returned to normal health, study investigators say there needs to be more follow-up research to know if there were long-term effects, or if longer stays would influence the pollution impact. Next, researchers plan to study international travelers who are more susceptible to the effects of air pollution, such as the elderly and people with asthma or heart conditions.

Funding for the study was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grants ES000260 and ES007324, an Air Waste and Management Association 2017 Scholarship, and an NYU College of Global Public Health grant.

In addition to Gordon and Vilcassim, other NYU School of Medicine researchers include George D. Thurston, ScD; Lung-Chi Chen, PhD; Chris C. Lim, PhD; Eric Saunders, PhD; and Yixin Yao, PhD.

Story Source:

Materials provided by NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

via International travelers experience the harmful effects of air pollution — ScienceDaily

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Barcelona port is worst in Europe for cruise ship air pollution

Posted on June 8, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

City tops list of 50 European ports for both sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions

The port of Barcelona, a city already overwhelmed by mass tourism, has topped a list of 50 European ports for the amount of air pollution produced there by cruise ships, according to a report.

In 2017 cruise ships emitted 32.8 tonnes of sulphur oxide (SOx) in Barcelona, according to the research. Palma de Mallorca was the second most polluted, with 28 tonnes, followed by Venice with 27.5. Southampton, with 19.7 tonnes, was fifth on the list.

Barcelona also leads in the amount of carcinogenic nitrogen oxide (NOx) particles the ships emit. Cruise ships account for 15% of the NOx emitted by all of Europe’s passenger vehicles.

“Cities are, and with reason, banning diesel vehicles but at the same time are allowing free entry to cruise ship companies whose ships’ emissions cause immeasurable damage,” said Faig Abbasov, maritime coordinator of the NGO behind the report, Brussels-based Transport and Environment.

Ships run on fuel oil, which contains about 2,000 times more sulphur oxide than ordinary diesel. The report claims that cruise ships docking in European ports produced 10 times more sulphur emissions than all the 260m cars in those countries combined. In the case of Barcelona, in 2017 cruise ships emitted nearly five times as much SOx as all the city’s cars.

A recent report by the environmental group Ecologists in Action said toxic particles from the ships were detected as far as 249 miles (400km) from Barcelona’s port. The impact is exacerbated by ships leaving their engines running while in port.

The city is Europe’s busiest cruise ship destination, with some 2.7 million passengers disembarking from 800 ships in 2017. On a single day last October, seven ships with 18,000 passengers and 6,000 crew were docked in the port.

Environmental groups and residents associations in the city have campaigned for years for the numbers to be curbed. Last year, the Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, was met by protests when it arrived in Barcelona for its maiden voyage.

Campaigners argue that not only are the ships endangering residents’ health, especially those who live near the port, they are a form of tourism that brings few benefits to the city.

Most passengers visit the city for around five hours, spending an average of €57 each, and return to their ships at night.

Gala Pin, a Barcelona councillor who represents the old city that adjoins the port, raised a few eyebrows last year when she compared cruise ship tourists to locusts.

“In my opinion, we shouldn’t have this kind of tourism,” she said. “It’s like a plague of locusts. They devour the public space and then they leave.”

While the city authorities have tried to limit the number of ships, they are good business for the port, which is managed by central government, not the city council.

The International Maritime Organization limits the amount of sulphur in fuel oil to 3.5% and in 2020 a new limit of 0.5% will come into force. However, under the European Union’s clean air policy, the limit in the Mediterranean may be reduced to 0.1%.

Under current rules, there is a policy of zero emissions while ships are docked in Baltic, North Sea and Channel ports, and there are plans to extend this to the Mediterranean.

via Barcelona port is worst in Europe for cruise ship air pollution | Cities | The Guardian

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Earliest human air pollution detected in glaciers

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Researchers in Peru have discovered some of the earliest evidence of air pollution, and their report reveals new information about the extent that carbon emissions accelerate the melting of glaciers.

The report, released by the National Institute of Research on Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems (INAIGEM) in Peru, also indicates that black carbon emissions in particular have a direct impact on the rate at which glaciers melt.

According to Jesús Gómez López, the Director of Glaciers Research at INAIGEM, “There are different sources of black carbon that can deposit on glaciers, some are wildfires, burning of agricultural waste and the emissions from vehicle fleets. Studies show that the concentration of black carbon is greater in glaciers close to large cities.”

The 1,200-year-old Quelccaya Ice Cap contained small traces of lead and mercury believed to be pollution from silver mines during the early Spanish invasion. Climate change and air pollution can often be tied to colonialism and the exploitation of indigenous populations and lands.

Metal working and mining by the Incas had “most likely only a local impact on the environment surrounding their mining operations. In contrast, the mining … activities performed by the Spanish had an impact on the atmosphere of the entire South America continent,” said Paolo Gabrielli, a researcher from Ohio State who contributed to the first paper on the discovery.

Although the age of the pollution is impressive, researchers are quick to point out that all glaciers contain human-caused pollution at this point.

“Today, there are no glaciers on Earth where atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic origin cannot be detected,” said a report from Ohio State University.

Researchers also suggest that emissions from fires, transportation and industry should be curtailed in order to reduce glacial melt and trap carbon in place. They also note that while air pollution is hundreds of years old, today’s level of air pollution is unprecedented.

via Earliest human air pollution detected in glaciers

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