Death in the air

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Death in the air

London Free Press - Canada

Sat, June 3, 2006

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/06/03/1612452-sun.html

We're learning more and more about how smog damages our health -

even when the air seems clean. Experts conclude no amount of air

pollution is safe.

By MEGAN GILLIS, SUN MEDIA

Take a deep breath before you read this.

That gulp was just one of thousands of litres of air you'll breathe

today -- indoors and out.

You may not want to take another after you read this -- because the

air we breathe outdoors is taking lives.

It damages our lungs and hearts, brings on asthma bouts and heart

attacks and leaves people with such ailments as chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease struggling just to breathe.

Summer hasn't even begun and London has already had 19 days when air

quality was one category below that when a smog day is declared -- a

level at which very sensitive people may be adversely affected.

Last year, pollutants led officials to issue 12 smog advisories

covering 45 days; on one of those days, air quality was actually

rated poor. For the first time since measurements were taken, a smog

advisory was issued in the winter.

It's not that air pollution is getting worse. Generally -- except

for lung-irritating ground-level ozone -- it's better than three

decades ago.

Experts say we have more smog days because of variations in weather -

- hot summers cook up more smog, for example.

What's changed is we're learning more and more about how smog

damages our health -- even when the air seems clean.

Experts conclude no amount of air pollution is safe.

" It's a fundamental determinant of health -- people can't be healthy

unless they have clean air to breathe, " says Dr. Greg Flynn,

president of the Ontario Medical Association. " You have a choice of

whether to smoke or not smoke, exercise or not exercise. You don't

have a choice about the air we breathe. "

The association projected the costs of air pollution to make the

impact clear. It estimated air pollution would kill 230 people in

London and Middlesex County last year, hospitalize 690, send 2,350

to the ER and cause more than 1.3 million days of missed work.

The tab for the added health-care costs and lost productivity would

top $40 million, the association says.

Those numbers, which the OMA calls conservative, are expected to

nearly double in London and Middlesex County by 2026 -- even if air

pollution gets no worse -- because more of us will be old and frail.

The vast majority who will die are the most vulnerable -- the

elderly and ill. Researchers believe babies and children with health

problems are at risk of dying, too. There just isn't enough research

to predict how many.

" We're getting used to looking through a haze, " Flynn says.

" We're trying to make it real to people and help governments

understand the cost -- a billion dollars a year -- and the human

suffering. Thousands, probably millions, of people in Ontario have

minor health effects on a daily basis from air pollution. "

The doctors' study is one of three Canadian reports that came up

with similar death tolls by combining research on the health effects

of pollutants, data from air quality monitoring stations and

population statistics.

It's the same way experts made us wake up and realize the terrible

human cost of smoking.

A Health Canada study was even grimmer than the OMA's, estimating

the five common air pollutants -- carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide,

sulphur dioxide, ozone and fine particulate matter -- kill 5,900

people a year in eight big Canadian cities, including two that flank

London -- Windsor and Hamilton.

The air is making people sick even when it looks clear.

A Toronto study found more than nine in 10 premature deaths and

hospitalizations caused by pollution occurred when the air was good

or very good, according to the air quality index.

Scientists and doctors have long known smog kills.

More than 4,000 died in London, England, in 1952 when cold weather

increased coal burning and stagnant air kept the toxic haze over the

city.

In response, countries such as Canada tightened air pollution

standards in the 1950s and 1960s.

Scientists thought when the worst pollution disappeared in the 1970s

and 1980s, so would the health damage. They were wrong.

" The new studies have demonstrated that even at those lower levels

of exposure, we see adverse health effects, " says Dr. Dave Stieb, of

Health Canada's air health effects division. " It's a change in

perspective. Things aren't safe -- even at these lower levels. "

We know air pollution outside is harming our health.

In a Healthy Indoors survey last summer, six in 10 said air

pollution is the gravest environmental threat facing Canadians --

and will continue to be.

More than half thought it would hurt their health and nearly four in

10 said it already had.

What we may not know is that even our homes are no safe refuge.

Experts say the air inside our ever-tighter homes is just as serious

a threat to our health, potentially full of pollutants that trigger

asthma and allergies in kids and cause respiratory problems, cancer

and even fatal poisoning.

" You're more likely to be affected by pollutants indoors than

outdoors, " says Jay Kassirer, executive director of the Healthy

Indoors Partnership, formed by groups to fight inaction on indoor

air.

" Canadians have the impression indoor air is better than outdoor

air -- for a number of substances, it's not, " Kassirer says.

" In terms of pollution that will have an impact on people's health,

one is more likely to be exposed indoors than outdoors because we

spend so much time indoors and we're closer to the sources. "

Yet many indoor environments in Canada are just as polluted as 30

years ago, despite decades of reports and conferences.

Canadians don't see the air they breathe at home as a threat.

Almost three-quarters of people surveyed for Healthy Indoors

reported potential health threats in their homes. Nearly one in 10

families with children, for example, had visible mould.

Only a third recognized the threat to their health.

" Over 73 per cent of people reported signs of potential health

risks -- only half took action, " Kassirer says.

The science -- and funding for research and action -- in indoor air

quality has lagged when compared to the air outside.

" This is a very similar situation to climate change 10 years ago, "

Kassirer says. " People are saying the evidence points to real

issues, but people say the science isn't very hard yet. "

No one knows, for example, how many people are sickened and die

because of the air indoors, because there's no way to measure

pollution in all the dwellings in a city such as London.

But there's a lot scientists do know about indoor air threats that

isn't reaching the public.

A lung association review of studies links indoor air pollutants to

a string of ailments -- from difficult breathing and wheezing to

asthma, respiratory infections, bronchitis and lung cancer.

" People know a lot about outdoor air quality, they listen to smog

warnings, but their basements are full of mould, " says Dr. Virginia

Salares, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s indoor air researcher.

" They're not attuned to the environment where they're spending more

time relative to the outdoors. The consensus is there is a strong

relationship between indoor air quality and health.

" Smoking, for example, is linked to upper respiratory effects in

children. Carbon monoxide from a poorly maintained furnace is

poisoning -- it can be fatal. Dust mites and asthma -- it's a

powerful link.

It's only in our homes we cover up health threats with more

pollution, Salares says, pointing to air fresheners used to mask the

smell of potentially dangerous mould.

A KILLER

The Ontario Medical Association estimates air pollution killed 5,800

people in the province last year, sent thousands to the emergency

room and cost billions. It predicts more than 10,000 will die in

2026 -- even if our air gets no dirtier.

The annual toll of pollution coming from the U.S. -- ozone and fine

particulate matter -- in Ontario is estimated at:

- 2,751 deaths a year.

- 12,000 hospital admissions.

- 22,000 emergency room visits.

- 4.8 million minor illnesses.