Table 2 Excess deaths
associated with air
pollution incidents
(modified from ref. 9)
Date
Place
Excess deaths
December 1873
London
270—700
December 1892
London
1000
December 1930
Meuse Valley, Belgium 63
December 1952
London
4000
November 1953
New York, USA
250
December 1962
London
340—700
December 1962
Osaka, Japan
60
regions of the World. Table 1 shows the major air pollutants, their sources and
impacts.
Local Air Pollution
Local air pollution is pollution in close proximity to urban centres and industrial
installations, usually at a distance of less than fifty kilometres. Close to air
pollution sources, in and around urban locations and close to industrial
installations, there are impacts on human health, crop yield and quality, forest
health, man-made materials and monuments, and also on visibility.
Human health. Human health impacts are caused by a wide range of gases and
particles (Table 1). Sulfur dioxide, in combination with particulate matter, has
caused serious health impacts in Europe and North America over the last 150
years (as indicated from the data in Table 2). For example, there were a number
of very bad smog episodes during the 1950s that led to the development of the
Clean Air Act in the UK. Figure 5 shows the number of excess deaths related to
the most infamous smog episode in London in 1952 where 4000 excess deaths
were eventually recorded, which led to a public outcry forcing politicians to act.
Recent evidence suggests that fine particulates, less than 10 m (PM
) and, in
particular, less than 2.5 m (PM
), size fractions that represent an inhalation
hazard, are contributing to respiratory and cardiopulmonary disease resulting
in mortality and hospital admissions at pollutant concentrations well below air
quality standards. Indeed, epidemiological evidence from the United States is
consistent with a linear non- threshold response for the population as a whole.
The PM
and PM
concentrations are higher in parts of Asia than in Europe
or North America and similar responses may be seen in these areas, although
further epidemiological studies are required in developing countries to determine
whether people in different socio-economic circumstances respond in the same or
different ways to air pollutants. However, as there is no evidence that a
Modified from D. M. Elsom, Atmospheric Pollution: A Global Problem, Second Edition, Blackwell,
Oxford, 1992.
M. Lippman, The 1997 US EPA standards for particulate matter and ozone, in Air Pollution and
Health, ed. R. E. Hester and R. M. Harrison, Issues in Environmental Science and Technology, No.
10, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1998, pp. 75—99.
F. Murray, Impacts on Health, in Regional Air Pollution in Developing Countries, Background
Document for Policy Dialogue. Stockholm Environment Institute, York, 1998, pp. 5—11.
F. Murray, G. McGranahan and J. C. I. Kuylenstierna. The application of models to assess health
effects of air pollution in Asia, Water, Air, Soil Pollut. (in press).
A Perspective on Global Air Pollution Problems
27
associated with air
pollution incidents
(modified from ref. 9)
Date
Place
Excess deaths
December 1873
London
270—700
December 1892
London
1000
December 1930
Meuse Valley, Belgium 63
December 1952
London
4000
November 1953
New York, USA
250
December 1962
London
340—700
December 1962
Osaka, Japan
60
regions of the World. Table 1 shows the major air pollutants, their sources and
impacts.
Local Air Pollution
Local air pollution is pollution in close proximity to urban centres and industrial
installations, usually at a distance of less than fifty kilometres. Close to air
pollution sources, in and around urban locations and close to industrial
installations, there are impacts on human health, crop yield and quality, forest
health, man-made materials and monuments, and also on visibility.
Human health. Human health impacts are caused by a wide range of gases and
particles (Table 1). Sulfur dioxide, in combination with particulate matter, has
caused serious health impacts in Europe and North America over the last 150
years (as indicated from the data in Table 2). For example, there were a number
of very bad smog episodes during the 1950s that led to the development of the
Clean Air Act in the UK. Figure 5 shows the number of excess deaths related to
the most infamous smog episode in London in 1952 where 4000 excess deaths
were eventually recorded, which led to a public outcry forcing politicians to act.
Recent evidence suggests that fine particulates, less than 10 m (PM
) and, in
particular, less than 2.5 m (PM
), size fractions that represent an inhalation
hazard, are contributing to respiratory and cardiopulmonary disease resulting
in mortality and hospital admissions at pollutant concentrations well below air
quality standards. Indeed, epidemiological evidence from the United States is
consistent with a linear non- threshold response for the population as a whole.
The PM
and PM
concentrations are higher in parts of Asia than in Europe
or North America and similar responses may be seen in these areas, although
further epidemiological studies are required in developing countries to determine
whether people in different socio-economic circumstances respond in the same or
different ways to air pollutants. However, as there is no evidence that a
Modified from D. M. Elsom, Atmospheric Pollution: A Global Problem, Second Edition, Blackwell,
Oxford, 1992.
M. Lippman, The 1997 US EPA standards for particulate matter and ozone, in Air Pollution and
Health, ed. R. E. Hester and R. M. Harrison, Issues in Environmental Science and Technology, No.
10, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1998, pp. 75—99.
F. Murray, Impacts on Health, in Regional Air Pollution in Developing Countries, Background
Document for Policy Dialogue. Stockholm Environment Institute, York, 1998, pp. 5—11.
F. Murray, G. McGranahan and J. C. I. Kuylenstierna. The application of models to assess health
effects of air pollution in Asia, Water, Air, Soil Pollut. (in press).
A Perspective on Global Air Pollution Problems
27