‘Dangerously high’ levels of air pollution found in Northern Ireland

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Poisonous air across Northern Ireland is contributing to illness and early death for many people, it has been claimed.

The stark warning comes as an investigation into air quality in Belfast revealed “dangerously high” levels of pollutants.

Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were so high in some areas that it breached legal limits at 30 sites across the city.

An environmental group monitored levels of NO2 for several weeks, providing a snapshot of NO2 pollution.

NO2 is a toxic gas which inflames the lining of the lungs.

The results found levels of NO2 pollution breaching legal limits at 30 sites across Belfast and North Down.

The group claimed that particularly high readings were recorded outside the Royal Victoria Hospital and at the Belfast Metropolitan College Millfield Campus.

The legal annual limit for NO2 is 40 micrograms per cubic metre, however, there are no safe levels of exposure to air pollution.

The air quality samples were collected using diffusion tubes situated at over 100 sites then processed and analysed by a laboratory.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) test air quality at 18 sites across Northern Ireland with nine in the greater Belfast area.

Green Party leader Clare Bailey warned that polluted, poisonous air across towns and cities in Northern Ireland is contributing to illness and early death for many people.

“This is an important study alerting us to an air pollution emergency across Belfast and beyond,” she said.

“Clean air is a human right, but many of us are breathing in heavily polluted and poisonous air each and every day.

“Air pollution is often invisible, with residents in heavily polluted areas not realising the extent of the problem and the resulting health impacts.

“Some of the most concerning levels of NO2 were recorded across inner city working class communities, with heavy traffic prevalent.

“The scientific evidence on the effects of air pollution is well documented and mounting.”

Respiratory symptoms, asthma prevalence and certain types of cancer can all be attributed to air pollution.

New studies have linked the problem with dementia and complications during pregnancy.

“Urgent action is required to address this public health emergency,” Ms Bailey added.

“NO2 pollution is closely linked with vehicle emissions, particularly diesel engines. A green transport strategy aimed at reducing the number of vehicles on our roads and increasing access to public transport is long overdue.

“The Department must also commit to increased air quality monitoring. Eighteen testing sites across Northern Ireland is inadequate.

“Communities are suffering from the poisonous effects of air pollution often without realising the harmful effects of the air they are breathing.

“I also want to see the introduction of a Clean Air Act which enshrines clean air as a human right and updates the legislation for modern fuels and technologies to reduce harmful air emissions and protect human health and the environment.”

via ‘Dangerously high’ levels of air pollution found in Northern Ireland – The Irish News

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Gasping for air in Kabul

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

In winter, Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul, is not for the faint-hearted—below-zero temperatures are not uncommon and snowfalls are frequent and sometimes heavy. With an average temperature of -1°C, January is the coldest month, with occasional drops to -25°C. Located at a high altitude of approximately 1,800 m above sea level, in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush mountains, Kabul is one the world’s highest capitals.

Afghanistan has, for many years, borne the brunt of a much-publicized protracted armed conflict. Meanwhile, away from the glare of publicity, Afghans—and in particular Kabul’s six million residents—are wrestling with another silent but deadly killer: air pollution.

“In the past, the air was nice and less contaminated in Kabul city,” says Nadira Rashidi, a long-time city resident. “We had a lower population, and more rainfall. Prior to the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, people were keen to plant trees in their residential compounds and in communal spaces. They were also keen to take collective action in cleaning different areas. This is called hashar in Afghanistan.”

Like any major city, Kabul has various sources of air pollution. For several weeks in a row, most often in the cold winter months, the city gets blanketed by a toxic haze of particulate matter—small and often invisible particles of dust and soot.

Under normal circumstances, warm air close to the ground gradually rises, carrying pollutants with it and dispersing them. However, when cold air remains close to the ground—under a so-called thermal inversion—pollution accumulates at the ground level.

Sources of air pollution include old cars, poor quality fuel, people burning trash, industrial brick kilns, small-scale smelting plants and foundries. That’s in addition to pollution coming from bakeries, restaurants and wedding halls as well as power plants, generators, household cooking stoves and heaters.

A comprehensive analysis of air pollution in Kabul has not yet been conducted. However, there have been measurements to assess levels of particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulfur and carbon monoxide.

The government is responsible for air quality monitoring in Kabul and it is now conducting spot monitoring of air quality around the city using portable equipment.

Many people are also using the AirVisual website or its mobile app for information on Kabul’s air quality. However, this information may not always be reliable or representative of the actual situation, as it comes from a single data point in one of the most congested areas of the city. There is thus a need for more comprehensive and accurate monitoring of air pollution to provide more reliable data.

“Human beings play an important role in polluting the environment. Women play an important role in this regard as they must raise and train their children. With an increase in air pollution, we are seeing a new generation whose growth is stunted. Pollution also negatively impacts pregnant women and their unborn children. Toxic air also causes respiratory diseases and even cancer,” says Nadira who is also Head of Gender at the National Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the State of Global Air 2019 report, current levels of air pollution have reduced worldwide life expectancy by one year and eight months. This means a person born today will die 20 months sooner, on average, than would be expected in the absence of air pollution. The report also notes that toxic air reduces average life expectancy by almost as much as tobacco use.

The problem posed by air pollution has drawn the attention of Afghan legislators. In December 2018, the Wolesi Jirga, the country’s Lower House of Parliament met officials from the Ministry of Public Health and the National Environmental Protection Agency to discuss air quality.

In response to these concerns, and in consultation with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the UN Environment team in Kabul conducted a rapid assessment of the concentration of airborne particulate matter of 10 micrometres or less in diameter (PM10) in the UN Operational Complex in Afghanistan and the UNAMA Alpha Compound.

The assessment comprised measurements taken every 15 minutes over several days in January and February 2019 under various weather conditions (clear and overcast skies, rain, snow, etc.). Measurements were taken using Thermo Fischer Scientific PDR 1000 monitors that measure real-time presence of atmospheric particulate matter.

In the UN Operational Complex, indoor concentrations of PM10 were 53.9 per cent lower than outdoor concentrations without use of an air purifier. With an air purifier, indoor PM10concentrations that were 98.9 per cent lower than outdoors and 97.3 per cent lower than indoor concentrations without an air purifier.

At the Alpha Compound, comparisons of the readings between outdoors and indoors revealed a significant difference, with indoor concentrations of PM10 being 36.4 per cent lower than outdoor concentrations.

“The World Health Organization air quality guidelines for PM10 consider an average of 50 µg.m‑3 per 24-hour period as being permissible. The assessment showed that using an air purifier can be very effective in improving indoor air quality to conform with World Health Organization guidelines,” says Dirk Snyman, UN Environment’s Action on Climate Expert in Afghanistan.

“However, there is need for a scientifically robust assessment of air quality using a larger number of air quality monitoring devices in multiple locations and over much longer monitoring periods. The results of this rapid assessment are thus only indicative and exploratory and should be interpreted as such,” says Snyman.

Since the beginning of March 2019, UNAMA Mission Support has undertaken continuous monitoring of airborne particulate matter in the UN Operational Complex in Afghanistan using an Aeroqual S500 monitor. During this period, all readings were below the WHO guideline values.

Learn more about the global #BreatheLife campaign, led by the World Health Organization, UN Environment and the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, which supports a range of cleaner air initiatives that cover 55 cities, regions, and countries, reaching over 153 million people.

Air pollution is the theme for World Environment Day on 5 June 2019. The quality of the air we breathe depends on the lifestyle choices we make every day. Learn more about how air pollution affects you, and what is being done to clean the air. What are you doing to reduce your emissions footprint and #BeatAirPollution?

The 2019 World Environment Day is hosted by China.

via Gasping for air in Kabul | UN Environment

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One in six people dying of lung cancer in UK are non-smokers, experts say

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Scientists blame rise on car fumes, secondhand smoke and soot from wood-burning stoves

Growing numbers of non-smokers are being diagnosed with lung cancer, many at a stage when it is incurable, experts in the disease have revealed.

They blame the rise on car fumes, secondhand smoke and indoor air pollution, and have urged people to stop using wood-burning stoves because the soot they generate increases risk.

About 6,000 non-smoking Britons a year now die of the disease, more than lose their lives to ovarian or cervical cancer or leukaemia, according to research published on Friday in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

That is about a sixth of the 36,000 deaths a year from lung cancer.

“If considered as a separate entity, lung cancer in never-smokers is the eighth most common cause of cancer-related death in the UK and the seventh most prevalent cancer in the world,” the authors state.

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A “never-smoker” is classed as someone who has smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.

The authors include Prof Paul Cosford, Public Health England’s director for health protection and medical director, and Prof Mick Peake, the director of the centre for cancer outcomes at University College London hospitals.

“With declining rates of smoking, the relative proportion of lung cancers in never-smokers is rising,” they said. “In addition, the absolute numbers and rates of lung cancers in never-smokers are increasing.”

Cosford – himself a non-smoker with lung cancer – said: “People will find these numbers very surprising. They rarely think of lung cancer as a non-smoker’s disease. They’re so focused on smoking as the main risk factor that we forget that there are quite a few causes of lung cancer that affect non-smokers.

“From a personal perspective, when I knew I was ill I never thought I would have lung cancer as I wasn’t a smoker. There’s an emerging realisation that this is a health problem we need to get supportive about.”

The difficulty identifying lung cancer means that many non-smokers are diagnosed when it has reached stage three or four, which means that treatment may prolong their life, but they cannot be cured.

Patients are often misdiagnosed, especially by GPs, and have their symptoms mistaken for something else, such as muscular pain, partly because they are similar to those for other ailments.

Breathing in secondhand smoke – for example being brought up in a home where one or both parents smoke – is the single biggest risk factor for a non-smoker getting lung cancer, the paper says. That accounts for 15% of the 6,000 cases.

Exposure to carcinogens in the workplace, such as asbestos, are to blame for 20.5% of lung cancers in non-smoking men and 4.3% in non-smoking women.

Outdoor air pollution is also a key factor, accounting for 8% of cases in non-smokers. It is thought to lead directly to the death of 39,000 Britons every year from a range of medical conditions, including lung cancer.

Wood and coal-burning stoves used indoors are also a risk, added Cosford. “I would like a nice wood-burning stove and used to have one. But we can’t get away from the fact that we are producing air pollution by burning wood and coal in our houses.

“The best thing is not to do it, but if you do do it then use the latest technology stove, use seasoned wood and have good ventilation.”

Richard Steyn, a consultant thoracic surgeon in the NHS and the chair of the UK Lung Cancer Coalition, said: “Apart from avoiding passive smoke, areas of high air pollution and wearing protective breathing apparatus in specific occupations, there is not a great deal that someone who does not smoke can do to avoid the risk.”

Health professionals need to be more aware that a non-smoker could have lung cancer in order to improve earlier diagnosis, he added.

“GPs and hospital doctors working in the NHS need to be more aware of the fact that lung cancer does occur in people who have never smoked and that as a disease in itself is more common than many other cancers that have a much higher profile, such as cancers of the cervix, ovary and the leukaemias.

“Many patients who have never smoked who develop lung cancer have their diagnosis delayed because of this lack of recognition so many of them have very advanced disease by the time they get to specialist care.”

via One in six people dying of lung cancer in UK are non-smokers, experts say | Society | The Guardian

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What are the ten towns with the worst air pollution in France?

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Residents of Brittany and Normandy were warned this week that sand particles from the Sahara desert were adding to already high pollution levels in their regions. But where are the ten towns with the worst air pollution in France?
Earlier this week locals in Brittany were ordered to reduce their speed when driving and told that outdoor sporting activities should be avoided by anyone with pre-existing health issues due to the level of pollution which had been exacerbated by sand arriving from the Sahara.

Each year more than 500 French cities exceed the recommended concentration limit of fine particles in the air, with 48,000 deaths in France related to fine-particle air pollution each year, according to the latest report from the country’s Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity.

For PM2.5 particles – basically the particles of air that are the most dangerous to a person’s health – the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set an upper limit of 10 micrograms of dirty air particles. If this was achieved, it would help dramatically cut the number of deaths caused by pollution.

However a total of 500 French cities exceed this concentration limits of fine particles in the air each year.
The main reasons behind this are road traffic and wood fires, with good weather and mild temperatures also playing a role in pollution peaks.
Here are the towns and cities in France that had the worst pollution in 2018, according to a report by air quality information site AirVisual.
1. Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), 17,6 μg/m3
2. Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne) 16,2 μg/m3
3. Paris 15,6 μg/m3
4. Valenciennes (Nord) 15,3 μg/m3
5. Douai (Nord) 15 μg/m3
6. Roubaix (Nord) 14,9 μg/m3
7. Salaise-sur-Sanne (Isère) 14,7 μg/m3
8. Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) 14,4 μg/m3
9. Lille (Nord) 14,3 μg/m3
10. Saint-Quentin (Aisne) 14,3 μg/m3
On a more positive note, France’s Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity said that “the implementation of various strategies and action plans led to an overall improvement in air quality” between 2007 and 2017, adding that pollutants are decreasing.

via What are the ten towns with the worst air pollution in France? – The Local

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Air pollution poses risks for childhood cancer survivors

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Poor air quality days significantly increase the risk of hospitalizations for respiratory issues in young survivors of cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) and published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Better treatments — developed through research — have resulted in a dramatic increase in the rates of childhood cancer survival; today, nearly 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer will survive their disease. However, these survivors may experience long-term detrimental health issues related to their cancer treatment. In this project, HCI researchers sought to better understand what a polluted environment means for the health of cancer survivors who may already be at a higher risk for illness because of the type of cancer treatment they received. The team examined the medical records of nearly 4,000 childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer survivors diagnosed or treated at Primary Children’s Hospital between 1986 and 2012. They tracked when and how often those survivors required emergency room treatment or were admitted to a hospital in Utah due to respiratory illness. The study was divided into three groups: those who received chemotherapy as part of their cancer treatment, those who didn’t receive chemotherapy, and a cancer-free group. The researchers found the risk for respiratory hospitalization was significantly higher among the survivors who received chemotherapy compared to the cancer-free group.

HCI’s researchers were specifically looking at what happened to survivors on unhealthy air days. The study found the risk for hospitalizations among cancer survivors was significant when air pollution (PM2.5) was below the standard for sensitive groups (35.4 µg/m3), implying that levels below that protective standard may still contribute to respiratory problems for cancer survivors. Of the 3,819 survivors in the study, 185 had a total of 335 respiratory events documented in their medical record. 91 percent of hospitalizations and 75 percent of emergency room visits took place along the Wasatch Front counties of Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber.

This is the first study to report a connection between PM2.5 levels and childhood cancer survivors requiring emergency treatment or hospitalization for respiratory issues. Survivors of childhood cancers may have higher vulnerability to high levels of PM2.5 because of lung damage and potential immunosuppression resulting from cancer and treatment with chemotherapy.

“This study has wide application to cancer survivors in Utah as well as nationwide,” said Judy Ou, PhD, a cancer epidemiologist at HCI and lead author on the study. “There are approximately 17 million cancer survivors in the United States, and statistics show about 40 percent of the U.S. population lives in places that are considered polluted at certain times of the year. This study provides valuable information to the medical community about how air pollution affects young survivors of cancer. We can use this to inform strategies to address this risk.”

Anne Kirchhoff, PhD, HCI cancer researcher and associate professor of pediatrics at the U of U, said, “We really haven’t thought about how environmental exposures may affect long-term healthcare needs and health outcomes. We may need to rethink guidelines, both on air pollution notifications from public health agencies as well as guidelines we’re giving cancer patients.”

Kirchhoff and Ou are working to identify effective strategies for sharing this information with health advocates, air quality organizations, and families affected by childhood cancers. The researchers collaborated with scientists from other departments at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University on this work.

The researchers say the Utah Population Database was vital to their research. They hope to use the resource on a follow-up project that would include a larger sample size to further evaluate the results of this study. They would also like to extend the study to adult cancer survivor populations. “We would like to understand the effects of pollution on a large sample and be able to provide guidance to cancer survivors across the country,” said Ou.

This HCI-led research is supported by the National Cancer Institute grant P30 CA042014, St. Baldrick’s Foundation Childhood Cancer Research Grant, Huntsman Cancer Foundation, and Intermountain Healthcare’s Primary Children’s Hospital.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Huntsman Cancer Institute. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

via Air pollution poses risks for childhood cancer survivors — ScienceDaily

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‘Landmark’ study links air pollution to unborn baby growth

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

A new study from scientists at the University of Aberdeen has revealed that exposure to air pollution is linked to babies’ growth during pregnancy

The study analysed over a decade’s worth of research evidence from around the world to establish the extent to which mothers’ exposures to air pollution, diet, alcohol and chemicals affects fetal growth.

While there was surprisingly insufficient evidence that poor diet, alcohol or chemicals were factors, the study found evidence that exposure to nitrogen dioxide resulted in smaller fetal head size, particularly in the last three months of pregnancy.

The nitrogen dioxide referred to in the research is primarily generated by vehicle traffic, but can be present in the home from cigarette smoke, or butane and kerosene heaters and stoves.

Professor Steve Turner, who led the study, said: “What was unique about our review of the literature is that we looked at unborn babies to see if mothers’ exposures to these factors affected fetal development. We used medical literature dating back 13 years, when the first studies linking exposure to fetal measurements was first published.

“The seven studies where air pollution was measured and linked to fetal size were from different geographical areas of the world, including Australia, the USA and several countries in Europe. However in all of the studies the evidence was clear that in the third trimester in particular, exposure to nitrogen dioxide reduced fetal growth.”

Previous research has shown that being small – for gestational age – at birth is associated with increased risk for conditions that include coronary artery disease, type II diabetes and asthma, meaning that a baby subject to air pollution in the womb is more likely to develop one of these later in life.

Professor Turner continued that: “public health measures are urgently required to minimise pregnant mothers’ exposures to nitrogen dioxide.”

via ‘Landmark’ study links air pollution to unborn baby growth – PharmaTimes

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Millions more Americans breathing dirty air as planet warms – report

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Forty-three percent of Americans live in places where they’re breathing unsafe air, according to American Lung Association

An increasing number of Americans live in places with unhealthy levels of smog or particulate air pollution – both of which are being made worse by climate change, according to a new report.

Air quality in the US has been improving since the 1970s, but that progress may be backsliding and 43% of Americans are now living in places where they are breathing unsafe air, according to the American Lung Association report.

As temperatures rise, wildfires are getting worse and spewing smoke across the west. And more smog, or ozone, is forming on warmer days.

For the three hottest years on record, 2015 through 2017, about 141 million people lived in US counties that saw unhealthy levels of particle pollution, either in a single 24-hour period or over a year, or unhealthy levels of smog. That is seven million more people than in the group’s last report.

“We’re seeing in this year’s report the impacts of climate change on air quality in really stunning terms,” said Paul Billings, a vice president for the association.

via Millions more Americans breathing dirty air as planet warms – report | Environment | The Guardian

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Air Pollution Is Killing More People Than Smoking—and Fossil Fuels Are Largely to Blame

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution causes up to 8.8 million premature deaths each year around the globe, surpassing worldwide deaths from smoking. A new study, published late last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that about 65 percent of those deaths are caused by emissions from fossil fuel-related activities, and that we can prevent about 3.6 million premature deaths every year if we phase out fossil fuels.

The study’s authors make use of epidemiological studies that follow cohorts of people around the world to model causes of mortality and thereby calculate the role of fossil fuel-caused air pollution. If we reduced the impact of all sources of anthropogenic pollution (including things like agriculture), the researchers calculate, the number of deaths prevented per year would jump to 5.6 million.

“Considering that this is a factor of 3 higher than the mortality rate from other avoidable environmental risks such as unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene, reducing air pollution is clearly an effective and urgent health intervention,” the authors write. They find that, in particular, rapidly reducing fine particulate matter in the atmosphere could greatly reduce health impacts of exposure to air pollution, which include cardiovascular disease, asthma, and lung cancer.

The study also finds implications for the climate when fossil fuel emissions are ramped down thanks to a decrease in the use of aerosols. “By removing aerosol pollution, we find substantial regional invigoration of the hydrologic cycle,” leading to an increase in precipitation, they write.

This “invigoration” would have an especially significant impact in areas like northern China and Mexico, where record-setting droughts caused by climate change have been devastating agricultural productivity.

While aerosols have interrupted the Earth’s hydrologic cycles, they’ve also had a cooling effect on the planet. Those particles in the atmosphere reflect sunlight back into space, reducing the amount that is absorbed by the oceans and surfaces of Earth.

The study finds that aerosols have masked (that is, dampened the effect of) global warming by about 0.5 degrees Celsius. That effect has been particularly pronounced in areas of North America and northeast Asia, where researchers find that up to two degrees of warming has been masked. While carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are warming up the atmosphere, those aerosols have also been forestalling some of the worst impacts.

Aerosols have a shorter lifespan in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, so “overall, the warming effect dominates,” says lead author Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany. “But in some areas which are very polluted, the cooling effect can be quite substantial.”

“The bottom line of this study is that we really need to do something quickly, especially if you want to meet these targets that we have all agreed upon at the Paris Agreement,” Lelieveld says. Signatories to the Paris Agreement have pledged to keep warming below two degrees Celsius by 2100, which, the study’s authors say—optimistically—could be possible.

If “within the next decade or so, say by mid-century,” we stop emitting greenhouse gases, Leliveld says, “it would still be possible to meet the two-degree target.”

via Air Pollution Is Killing More People Than Smoking—and Fossil Fuels Are Largely to Blame – Pacific Standard

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