Dirty Air is Dangerous Air
There's already a thread here in Pollution forum - Airborne particulates in Hong Kong - health risks. But, especially as Hong Kong Government doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that Dirty Air is Dangerous Air, perhaps useful for another thread, inc on health risks from air pollutants in general, and pollutants other than particulates.
Starting with news report saying that even before they're born, kids may suffer increased risk of asthma because of air pollution. From BBC:
Traffic pollution causes genetic changes in the womb which increase a child's risk of developing asthma, research suggests.A study of umbilical cord blood from 56 children found "reprogramming" of a gene associated with exposure to compounds in traffic fumes.
The gene was associated with asthma symptoms at age five, the researchers reported in the PLoS ONE journal.
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"Our data support the concept that environmental exposures can interact with genes during key developmental periods to trigger disease onset later in life, and that tissues are being reprogrammed to become abnormal later," said Dr Shuk-mei Ho, study leader and director of the Center for Environmental Genetics at the University of Cincinnati.
She said detecting early signs of asthma could help prevent the disease than can affect as many as 25% of children in areas with high levels of traffic pollution.
...Dr Elaine Vickers, research relations manager at Asthma UK, said: 'We don't yet know whether air pollution can actually cause asthma and although this study is very interesting, further research is needed before we can say for sure.
"We do know however that pollution triggers symptoms in two thirds of people with asthma, and many say that a reduction in air pollution would make the single biggest difference to their quality of life."
Warning: Smog lowers kids' IQs, even before they're born.The five-year-old children of city mothers who regularly breathed in car- and truck-polluted air when they were pregnant scored significantly lower on IQ tests than kids with less exposure, a study released Monday found.
The findings suggest that pre-natal exposure to air pollution could have the same harmful effects on brain development as lead exposure, and helps explain why inner city kids often do worse academically than wealthier youngsters, said Patrick Breysse, an environmental health specialist at Johns Hopkins' school of public health.
The study appeared in the August edition of Pediatrics.
Scientists said more study is needed to rule out the possibility that exposure to pollution after they were born contributed to the children's low scores.
Read more: Smog lowers kids' IQs, even before they're born, shows New York Study
From WebMD:
More evidence reveals that short- and long-term exposure to air pollution directly increases the likelihood of heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular problems, leading physicians to issue new recommendations to help people reduce their risk.The new recommendations were released Monday by the American Heart Association (AHA) and singled out fine particulate matter as a cardiovascular risk factor.
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- A few hours or weeks of exposure to particulate matter can increase the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and death, particularly among vulnerable populations, such as those already at high risk for cardiovascular disease, the elderly, and possibly people with diabetes.
- Long-term exposure to high concentrations of particulate matter further increases cardiovascular disease risk and can shorten life expectancy by several months to a few years.
more from WebMD:
A new study shows that as little as a week in a place with high levels of air pollution raises the risk of heart attack.The additional risk is slight compared with classic heart attack risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, or diabetes. But researchers say it’s significant because many people are exposed to air pollution, and heart disease is the leading cause of death in industrialized countries.
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this is the first study to show even short-term exposure to air pollution is enough to increase the near-term risk of heart attack.
...The air pollutants included in the review were ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter.
The results showed all major air pollutants, with the exception of ozone, were associated with a slight increase in heart attack risk.
Researchers say there are several possible explanations for the association between air pollution and heart attack.
For example, previous studies have shown that exposure to air pollution increases inflammation, which is linked to heart attack risk.
In addition, research has shown that exposure to air pollution may increase the heart rate and may make the blood more likely to form potentially dangerous clots.
Further expert views on our air pollution, in a letter to S China Morning Post published today:
Hong Kong government must reduce air pollution levels
May 09, 2012
Air quality is still at dangerous levels most of the time in Hong Kong and may only improve during summer. Most pollution is locally generated.
I am worried about the PM2.5 level (fine particle concentrations) in Hong Kong.
These particles can reach the deepest part of our respiratory system and part of them can enter our circulatory system, disrupting the epithelial cells and increasing inflammation levels and oxidative stress in the body.
At 70 per cent, our PM2.5 to PM10 ratio (particles under 10 microns in diameter) is higher than that in many countries, indicating we are quite close to the emissions, including primary gaseous pollutants, that can form ultrafine particulate which can be subsequently aggregated to fine particulate.
The current average annual PM2.5 levels are about 250 per cent above World Health Organisation guidelines.
I have a number of suggestions for our new government.
It must implement stringent emission controls on vehicles and ships, such as by road-pricing charges (which operate in London and Singapore). An emission control area can reduce marine emissions near the special administrative region.
An annual eco-prize (say HK$10,000) can be awarded to registered households and the commercial sector that meet low levels of electricity consumption per capita.
There should be an award for working-age (18-65) adults who live close to their workplace, thus enabling them to lower their transport fuel consumption.
Automatic waste-collection checkpoint stations should be installed at buildings and estates (monitored by closed-circuit televisions) and the Octopus cards of registered households and organisations should be credited (HK$10-20 a day) if they dump their waste daily into the correct recycling boxes.
Eco-accountants should be employed to handle these prizes and financial awards given to households and organisations that reduce emissions and volumes of waste.
The government should consult environmental and public health experts, and inventors and providers of technology. When it introduces new programmes, it should promote them through extensive public education.
All Hong Kong citizens should write to their district councillors or representatives in the Legislative Council, telling them that improving air quality with the right solutions and tightening environmental standards should be their first priority.
Lai Hak-kan, School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong
From AFP report:
Quote:In a study which could impact air quality regulation, researchers said Wednesday that chronic exposure to one of the major components of smog significantly raises the risk of dying from lung disease.
The study found that the risk of dying from respiratory disease increased as much as 50 percent as a result of long-term exposure to high concentrations of ground-level ozone.
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This is the first study to look at the long-term health impacts of ozone, which is formed through the chemical reaction between sunlight and the nitrogen oxides spewed from vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions.
"Many studies have shown that a high-ozone day leads to an increase in risk of acute health effects the next day, for example, asthma attacks and heart attacks," said study co-author George Thurston of New York University's medical school.
"What this study says is that to protect the public's health, we can't just reduce the peaks, we must also reduce long-term, cumulative exposure."
The researchers estimate that the risk of dying from respiratory causes rises four percent for every 10 parts-per-billion increase in exposure to ozone.
Smog raises risk of dying from lung disease: study
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