Health Benefits from Mitigating Climate Change in Transportation

Health co-benefits of climate change mitigation - Transport sector (156 page pdf, Jamie Hosking, Pierpaolo Mudu, Carlos Dora, Health Impact Assessment, World health Organization, Dec., 2011)
Today the focus is on a report issued by the World Health Organization in connection with the Climate Change Conference held at Durban, South Africa. The report examines the positive impacts on health by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and the advantages and disadvantages of certain strategies such as the results of congestion pricing (positive) or the shift to diesel fuel (negative).



Key Quotes:

“This new WHO report, part of the Health in the Green Economy series, considers the evidence regarding health co-benefits, and risks, of climate change mitigation strategies for transport, as reviewed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”

“Health benefits may include: physical activity from walking and cycling, which can help prevent heart disease, some cancers, type 2 diabetes, and some obesity-related risks; lower urban air pollution concentrations; lower rates of traffic injury risks for users of dedicated bicycle and pedestrian networks; and less noise stress”

“A shift to active transport (walking and cycling) and rapid transit/public transport combined with improved land use can yield much greater immediate health “co-benefits” than improving fuel and vehicle efficiencies”

“Potential health gains of a shift from private motorized transport to walking, cycling and rapid transit/public transport include reduced cardiovascular and respiratory disease from air pollution, less traffic injury and less noise-related stress”

“Shifting from gasoline to diesel vehicles could increase emissions of health-damaging small particulates (PM10, PM2.5)”

“Transport-related health risks now cause the deaths of millions of people annually”

“Congestion charges have reduced emissions by 13–30%, while a subsidy for low carbon fuel has been estimated to reduce emissions by 6%”

Related articles

• Climate Change is the Number One Problem of the e-Decade (edecade.wordpress.com)
• Scottish plan to cut CO2 emissions could cost £11bn, warns watchdog (guardian.co.uk)
• EAC-COMESA-SADC launch five-year climate change initiative / Regional blocs get $20 million to address climate change (appablog.wordpress.com)
• Climate Change Meetings Focus on Adaptation (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Climate change mitigation 'out of reach' (chimalaya.org)
• Cycling & Traffic Corridors: Health Risks & Benefits (healthyandsustainable.wordpress.com)
• Climate Change Harms Human Health (thinkprogress.org)
• Durban climate change talks: the final day (guardian.co.uk)
• Durban Dispatch: December 7, 2011 (thinkprogress.org)

Are Pollution Hotspots Legal in Ontario?

Image via WikipediaPollution, hot spots and environmental justice (Dianne Saxe, Environmental Law and Litigation, Dec. 5, 2011

Also discussed here: Pollution, Hot Spots and Environmental Justice (Dianne Saxe, Slaw, Dec. 5, 2011)

Topping the reviews today is a blog post by a lawyer who examines the potential inconsistency of environmental law, as expressed by the 1993 Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights, when applied to varying levels of air pollution across the province. Although she looked only at industrial examples (burning tires and stack emissions), the basic issue presented is whether the law could extend to differences in pollution at the neighbourhood level and, by extension in our mind, to pollution hotspots created by heavy traffic on urban public roads.

Key Quotes:

“Is it acceptable for legal pollution levels to be higher in some neighbourhoods than in others?”

“a Charter challenge … argues that Ministry of the Environment ongoing approval of multiple sources of pollution surrounding their Sarnia reserve violates their rights to life, liberty and security of the person and to equality”

“the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal had granted neighbours of a cement manufacturing facility leave to appeal permits, issued by the Ministry of the Environment, allowing Lafarge to burn tires, as fuel, at its cement manufacturing facility…The Tribunal found there was a failure on the part of the Directors to take into account “environmental consistency”.. consistency means that facilities should be regulated as necessary to limit environmental effects to a consistent level across Ontario”

“Air and water pollution levels do vary from place to place– for example, mountains and forests typically have cleaner air than highways or industrial areas. Is it unreasonable for regulators to allow different levels of pollution in different places, and if so when? Does this contravene the preamble to Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights,1993, S.O. 1993, ch. 28: “The people of Ontario have a right to a healthful environment”? Or not?”

Related articles

• Sprawl and Health Impacts in Ontario, Canada (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Ambient Air Pollution in Canada and Environmental Pricing (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Environment Ontario to Assess Melancthon Quarry Proposal (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Estimating the Risk of Death from Air Pollution (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Risk Assessment and Air Pollution Epidemiology (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Reviewing the air pollution death and health impact numbers and peer reviewed epidemiological studies (nextbigfuture.com)
• Assessment of Local Air Pollution Impacts on Health (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Neighbourhood-Scale Air Pollution Exposure, Walkability and Heart Disease (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)

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The Health Impact of Emissions from Light Traffic

Heavy vehicle traffic is related to wheeze among schoolchildren: a population-based study in an area with low traffic flows ( 8 page pdf, Martin Andersson, Lars Modig, Linnea Hedman, Bertil Forsbergand Eva Rönmark^, Environmental Health, Oct. 13, 2011,

The review today looks at research in northern Sweden and the health impact for children within 200 m of relatively low flows of traffic (100-250 vehicles per day). The results indicate a respiratory health risk, not only for those near low traffic but also a possibility of underestimated risks near high traffic flow.



Key Quotes:

“Asthma is a major public health issue, affecting 300 million people all ages world-wide”

“The present study is one of the very few that describe an association between traffic air pollution and symptoms of asthma in children in a cold climate setting with, in a global perspective, low traffic intensity and small socio-economic differences in the population”

“Exposure to high traffic flows was uncommon in the study area; only 15% of the children lived within 200 meters from a road with a traffic flow of ≥8000 vehicles per day”

“The unadjusted odds ratio for current wheeze when living closer than 200 m from a road with ≥500 heavy vehicles daily was 1.8.. This association became weaker but still significant, with decreasing frequency of heavy traffic flow”

“Children having high traffic flows within 200 meters from home, are most often exposed to higher levels of gases and particles, both refereeing to long- and short term exposures”

“By using three different cut-off levels within the 200 m radius we could show the importance of larger roads (≥250 vehicles per day) in comparison to using a lower cut-off (≥100 vehicles per day)”

“vehicle traffic emissions may pose a threat to public health also in large areas of the world where background pollution and traffic intensity are low and an even larger threat to respiratory health in highly trafficked communities where the risk may be underestimated”

Related articles

• Exposure of Schoolchildren to Traffic-Related Air Pollution (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Health Impacts from Road Traffic and Railway Noise (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Population, Traffic Density and Air Pollution in Large Cities (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Roadside Emission Impacts on Health in New Zealand (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Traffic Air and Sound Pollution Impacts on Blood Pressure and Hypertension (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Vehicle Emissions in Some Irish Cities (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Health Risks with Cycling near Traffic (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Population Exposure to Vehicle Emissions (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• EPA Statement on Health Impacts from Roadside NO2 Emissions (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)

Health Impacts from Road Traffic and Railway Noise

Image via WikipediaExposure to road traffic and railway noise and associations with blood pressure and self-reported hypertension: a cohort study ( 11 page pdf, Mette Sørensen, Martin Hvidberg, Barbara Hoffmann, Zorana J Andersen, Rikke B Nordsborg, Kenneth G Lillelund, Jørgen Jakobsen, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad and Ole Raaschou-Nielsen,Environmental Health, Oct. 28, 2011)

Today we review some research from Denmark which tried to assess the impact of road traffic and railway noise on blood pressure and hypertension, after taking into account the additional impacts of air pollution. There was a weak link with both sources, although it was thought that those who were most sensitive to noise (especially seniors) may have taken medication that reduced the impacts, compared to non-medicated people.

Key Quotes:

“Exposure to noise can interfere with relaxation and concentration and during the night, noise exposure at normal urban levels has been associated with sleep disturbances”

“An overview from 2006 of the effects of exposure to transport noise (road, air and rail) on cardiovascular health concluded that transport noise is associated with hypertension, which has mostly been verified by later studies on road traffic noise”

“The few studies that have investigated effects of exposure to long-term air pollution on BP and hypertension has found air pollution to be positively associated with systolic and diastolic BP as well as with hypertension”

“The results suggest that exposure to road traffic noise is associated with a higher risk for hypertension both before and after adjustment for air pollution”

“Exposure to railway noise at enrolment of 60 dB or more was associated with an 8% higher risk for hypertension”

“long-term exposure to road traffic noise was weakly associated with a higher systolic BP”

“High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and, therefore, even small increases in BP from road traffic noise may have high impact on public health”

Related articles

• Traffic Air and Sound Pollution Impacts on Blood Pressure and Hypertension (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Nighttime Noise and Blood Pressure (time.com)
• Exposure of Schoolchildren to Traffic-Related Air Pollution (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Noise and more noise in Hyderabad (thehindu.com)

Do the Suburbs Have a Future?

The Death of the Fringe Suburb (Christopher B. Leinberger, New York Times, Nov. 25, 2011)

Also discussed here: Here Comes the Neighborhood (Christopher B. Leinberger, The Atlantic, June 2010)

And here: The Future of the City- Special Report (The Atlantic, Jun. 8, 2010)

Today we look at the future of traditional North American cities with sprawling suburbs and large malls that can only be reached by car. Population trends toward an older society, the rise of carbon fuel costs and the desire for a better life style have shifted home buyers to the urban core from the suburban fringe- with huge impacts on what is left in the suburbs and the future priorities for transportation.



Key Quotes:

“It was predominantly the collapse of the car-dependent suburban fringe that caused the mortgage collapse”

“In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of the expensive housing in the United States, as measured by price per square foot…..Today, the most expensive housing is in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs”

“Many boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are now empty nesters and approaching retirement.. will downsize their housing in the near future. … live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town”

“The millennials (born between 1979 and 1996) are just now beginning to emerge from the nest … favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers — for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars”

“only 12 percent of future homebuyers want the drivable suburban-fringe houses that are in such oversupply…Add the fact that the houses were built with cheap materials and methods to begin with, and you see why many fringe suburbs are turning into slums, with abandoned housing and rising crime”

“The cities and inner-ring suburbs that will be the foundation of the recovery require significant investment at a time of government retrenchment. Bus and light-rail systems, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements — what traffic engineers dismissively call “alternative transportation” — are vital”

Related articles

• Cities, Suburbs and Changing Attitudes (nytimes.com)
• "In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of the expensive housing in the United..." (stoweboyd.com)
• New York Times calls Pasadena a "Transforming Suburb" (downtownpasadena.wordpress.com)
• Is Suburbia Doomed? Not So Fast. (forbes.com)
• Urban Housing Prices Reveal Urban Shift (allaboutcities.ca)
• Fringe suburbs draw empty-nesters (urbanvista.net)
• America's 10 Poorest Suburbs (247wallst.com)
• The slow market residential suburbs (propellresearch.wordpress.com)
• Andrew's Dig: The Next Slum? (apalmini.wordpress.com)

Estimating the Risk of Death from Air Pollution

Assessment of Deaths Attributable to Air Pollution: Should We Use Risk Estimates based on Time Series or on Cohort Studies? ( 6 page pdf, N. Künzli, S. Medina, R. Kaiser, P. Quénel, F. Horak, Jr., and M. Studnicka, American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 153, No. 11, 2001)

Today’s review looks at an analysis of the two ways of estimating the risk of death from air pollution- as an event from immediate pre-death conditions over a short time (using time series) or as a cumulative result over a lifetime using cohort groups. The authors suggest that each risk estimate has value and each has strengths and weaknesses. The analysis could be useful in suggesting what and how often to monitor and how to use the data.



Key Quotes:

“The “frailty” concept is useful in acknowledging that, in most cases, the probability of death is influenced not by one single factor, e.g., air pollution, but rather by a function of a whole set of underlying conditions or risk factors”

“Time-series studies model the association between the probability of death and the level of air pollution shortly before the event”

“Cohort studies model the association between an exposure and time to death. Thus, in cohort studies, time is the outcome measure of interest.. the cohort study design requires a setting with spatial variability of long term exposure”

“several patterns of exposure may influence time to death:

1. a single exposure occurring once in the past over a short period of time (e.g., an accidental spill);
2. repeated exposures of short duration;
3. continuous exposure over a longer period of time;
4. a pattern of short term exposure just before death; or
5. a combination of all of the above”

“categories of death associated with air pollution:

• air pollution increases both the risk of underlying diseases leading to frailty and the short term risk of death among the frail;
• air pollution increases the risk of chronic diseases leading to frailty but is unrelated to timing of death;
• air pollution is unrelated to risk of chronic diseases but short term exposure increases mortality among persons who are frail; and
• neither underlying chronic disease nor the event of death is related to air pollution exposure”

“we have conceptually shown that time-series based numbers of attributable cases must underestimate the total effect”

“assuming the availability of long term air pollutant monitoring data, exposure may be defined for different periods of life and for a variety of patterns (e.g., number of peaks, seasonal averages, cumulative exposure, etc.)”

“both types of air pollution mortality studies— the time-series approach and the cohort approach—are of value in air pollution epidemiology. However, they measure two different aspects of mortality that are not interchangeable”

Related articles

• Air Pollution Preconditions for Heart Attacks (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Air Pollution Exposure and the Health of Neighbourhoods in Ottawa, Canada (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• The State of Air Pollution in Europe (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Reviewing the air pollution death and health impact numbers and peer reviewed epidemiological studies (nextbigfuture.com)

The Health Impact of Indoor Air Pollution

Image via WikipediaMethod to Estimate the Chronic Health Impact of Air Pollutants in U.S. Residences (29 page pdf, Logue JM, Price PN, Sherman MH, Singer BC, Environ Health Perspect, Nov.17, 2011)

Today we review research into indoor air quality as it effects health on a long term basis. The main sources of the three main pollutants (aside from radon), formaldehyde, acrolein and particulate matter are emitted from materials around the house and from tobacco smoking- with some PM coming from outdoor sources. The total health impact is 1,100 Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)



Key Quotes:

“Air pollutant concentrations in many homes exceed health-based standards for chronic and acute exposures…Americans spend more than 65% of their time in residences”

“In this study we combined disease incidence and DALY-based health impact models to develop a methodology to estimate the population average health costs due to chronic inhalation of a broad suite of air pollutants in U.S. residences..to assess population health impacts of large-scale initiatives – including energy efficiency upgrades and ventilation standards – that affect indoor air quality”

“Our analysis demonstrates that in the majority of U.S. residences PM2.5, acrolein, and formaldehyde dominate health impacts due to chronic exposures to non-biological air pollutants”

Related articles

• Investigate Your Indoor Air Quality (everydayhealth.com)
• Indoor Air Quality: The Trouble With Carpeting (everydayhealth.com)
• Asthma and Indoor Air Pollution (everydayhealth.com)
• Breathe Easier - Tips for Better Indoor Air Quality in Winter (notdabblinginnormal.wordpress.com)
• What Is Green Home Carpeting and Upkeep? (bigsexymedia.com)
• Spa alert: Aromatherapy may cause poor indoor air quality (electrocorpairpurification.wordpress.com)