Updated Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand Study - Volume 2: Technical Reports (86 page pdf, Gerda Kuschel and Jayne Metcalfe, Emily Wilton, Jagadish Guria, Simon Hales, Kevin Rolfe, Alistair
Woodward, HAPINZ, March 2012)
Also discussed here: Updated Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand Study (2012)
And here: Pollution harming Aucklanders' health - report (Trevor Quinn, Auckland Now, Jul. 31, 2012)
And here: Air Quality (Auckland Council)
From New Zealand comes an updated report on the health
impacts of air pollution based on an expanded monitoring of air
pollution sources both natural and man made. The impacts are consistent
with those in other developed countries where, for example, the number
of premature deaths for Canada’s capital region, (Ottawa and Gatineau),
with a population of just over 1.3 million and 530 deaths per year
(reference: Illness Costs of Air Pollution for Ontario, 2008) compared
to New Zealand’s capital, Auckland, with population of 1.4 million and
436 deaths, with over half coming from motor vehicle emissions. The report also flags impacts on children, specifically during the neonatal period.
Key Quotes:
“The Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand study… show that man-made air pollution is associated with over 1,100 cases of premature mortality..Other illness associated with man-made emissions include:
- 607 extra hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illnesses
- 1.49 million restricted activity days (days on which people cannot do the things they might otherwise have done if air pollution was not present)”
- 436 premature deaths due to air pollution per year, with 58% of these (253) are due to motor vehicle emissions
- asthma is the fourth highest cause of hospitalisation in the region
- the Auckland region has one of the highest asthma rates in the world, with: - 12% to 23% of adults are asthmatic - 25% of children are asthmatic”
“the estimated relative contributions would have been 42 per cent natural sources, 13 per cent domestic heating and 35 per cent motor vehicles”
“The main natural sources of PM10 in New Zealand are sea spray (referred to as ‘marine aerosol’) and windblown dusts (referred to as ‘soil’)…In winter, domestic heating was found to be the main source of PM10. “
“the strongest evidence for effects on mortality in children relates to the post neonatal period (ages 1 month to 1 year…This is a potentially important category of health effect which does not overlap with the assessment of mortality in adults”
“There is evidence that both proximity to busy roads and NO2 exposure have important health effects, especially on respiratory symptoms and lung development in children”
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