Air Pollution a Growing Environmental Threat
Airborne Pollution Causes Environmental and Health Concerns
Oct 9, 2008
Reports from both Canada and the United States suggest that health problems from air pollution continue to increase. Despite stringent pollution regulations in both countries, the problems associated with air pollution persist, partly due to the effects of global warming on air pollutants.
Canadian Air Pollution Problems
On August 13, 2008, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) released the report, “No Breathing Room: National Illness Costs of Air Pollution”. Although there are very stringent air quality controls in Canada, the report lists a number of disturbing facts.
- In 2008, there will be 21,000 Canadian deaths due to air pollution. The majority of these will be from the chronic effects of long term exposure, over 2,600 will be from acute short term recent exposure.
- The economic costs of treatment of air pollution effects will top C$8 billion, accumulating to over C$250 billion by 2030.
- 90,000 people will die from the acute effects of air pollution by 2031, while deaths from chronic long term exposure will be over 700,000.
- In a press release by the CMA, in Ottawa on Aug 13 on the report, Dr Brian Day, President of the CMA said “But we have a serious home-grown pollution problem right here and Canadians, ranging from the very young to the very old, are paying the price."
American Air Pollution Problems
“The State of the Air: 2008”, a yearly report by The American Lung Association, published on May 1, 2008, shows that despite the improvements wrought by the passing of the "Clean Air Act" in 1970 and the 1997 "National Ambient Air Quality Standard”, air pollution in the United States continues to cause health problems.
In a press release, titled “National Trends Show that Declines in Ozone and Particle Pollution Have Stalled”, carried by Reuters News Agency on May 1 2008, announcing the publication of the report, Bernadette Toomey, CEO, American Lung Association, stated “The trends tell us loud and clear that we need to do more to protect Americans from breathing air that’s simply hazardous to their health.”
The report makes a number of points regarding American air pollution.
- 125 million Americans live in areas where they are exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone or particulate matter.
- Over 80 million Americans live in areas where there are too many days of unhealthy spikes in particle pollution.
- Over 90 million people live in counties that have very high levels of ozone, with increase risk of respiratory infection and lung inflammation.
- One in 10 Americans live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone and short-term and year-round particle pollution.
Global Warming Increases Risks of Air Pollution
A study carried out by M.Z. Jacobson, Stanford University, California, titled, “On the Causal Link Between Carbon Dioxide and Air Pollution Mortality” and published in Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 10, 2008, makes a number of points in relation to global warming and air pollution health risks.
- Higher temperatures due to global warming increase the chemical rate of ozone production in urban areas.
- Air temperatures rise more rapidly than ground temperatures, reducing the dispersion of pollution, concentrating the ozone and particle pollution at ground level.
- With only 12% of the US population, California is responsible for 30% of the increase in pollution related deaths since it has 6 of the top ten polluted cities in the country.
These reports show that despite good air quality standards, air pollution is still a significant problem in North America. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide, combined with American sources of energy are exposing North Americans to air pollution related health risks.
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