scholarly journals Opinion: Insights into updating Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50EC)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Kuula ◽  
Hilkka Timonen ◽  
Jarkko V. Niemi ◽  
Hanna Manninen ◽  
Topi Rönkkö ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
World Health ◽  
Ambient Air Quality ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Quality Guidelines ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Air Quality Guidelines

Abstract. As the evidence for the adverse health effects of air pollution continues to increase, World Health Organization (WHO) recently published its latest edition of the Global Air Quality Guidelines. Although not legally binding, the guidelines aim to provide a framework in which policymakers can combat air pollution by formulating evidence-based air quality management strategies. In the light of this, European Union has stated its intent to revise the current Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) to resemble closer to that of the newly published WHO guidelines. This article provides an informed opinion on selected features of the air quality directive that we believe would benefit from a reassessment. The selected features include discussion about 1) air quality sensors as a part of hierarchical observation network, 2) number of minimum sampling points and their siting criteria, and 3) new target air pollution parameters for future consideration.

scholarly journals Effect of PM2.5 Levels on Respiratory Pediatric ED Visits in a Semi-Urban Greek Peninsula

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6384
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Kanellopoulos ◽  
Ioannis Pantazopoulos ◽  
Maria Mermiri ◽  
Georgios Mavrovounis ◽  
Georgios Kalantzis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Ambient Air Pollution ◽  
World Health ◽  
Quality Guidelines ◽  
Ed Visits ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Air Quality Guidelines

Ambient air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide. Particulate matter (PM)2.5 particles are believed to be the most harmful, as when inhaled they can penetrate deep into the lungs. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between PM2.5 daily air concentrations and pediatric emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory diseases in a Greek suburban area. All pediatric ED visits for asthma-, pneumonia- and upper respiratory infection (URI)-related complaints were recorded during the one-year period. The 24-h PM2.5 air pollution data were prospectively collected from twelve fully automated air quality monitoring stations. The mean annual concentration of PM2.5 was 30.03μg/m3 (World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) Annual mean concentration: 10 μg/m3). PM2.5 levels rose above the WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) 24-h concentrations (25 μg/m3)), 178 times (48.6% of the study period). When PM2.5 levels were above the daily limit, an increase of 32.44% (p < 0.001) was observed in daily pediatric ED visits for respiratory diseases and the increase was much higher during spring (21.19%, p = 0.018). A 32% (p < 0.001) increase was observed in URI-related visits, when PM2.5 levels were ≥ 25 μg/m3, compared to the mean daily visits when PM2.5 levels were < 25 μg/m3. Air pollution levels were associated with increased pediatric ED visits for respiratory-related diseases.

scholarly journals Premature Adult Mortality and Years of Life Lost Attributed to Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Particulate Matter Pollution and Potential for Mitigating Adverse Health Effects in Tuzla and Lukavac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1107
Author(s):  
Vlatka Matkovic ◽  
Maida Mulić ◽  
Selma Azabagić ◽  
Marija Jevtić
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
World Health ◽  
Years Of Life Lost ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Adverse Health

Ambient air pollution is one of eight global risk factors for deaths and accounts for 38.44 all causes death rates attributable to ambient PM pollution, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is 58.37. We have estimated health endpoints and possible gains if two policy scenarios were implemented and air pollution reduction achieved. Real-world health and recorded PM pollution data for 2018 were used for assessing the health impacts and possible gains. Calculations were performed with WHO AirQ+ software against two scenarios with cut-off levels at country-legal values and WHO air quality recommendations. Ambient PM2.5 pollution is responsible for 16.20% and 22.77% of all-cause mortality among adults in Tuzla and Lukavac, respectively. Our data show that life expectancy could increase by 2.1 and 2.4 years for those cities. In the pollution hotspots, in reality, there is a wide gap in what is observed and the implementation of the legally binding air quality limit values and, thus, adverse health effects. Considerable health gains and life expectancy are possible if legal or health scenarios in polluted cities were achieved. This estimate might be useful in providing additional health burden evidence as a key component for a clean air policy and action plans.

scholarly journals Urban Population Exposure to Air Pollution in Europe Over the Last Decades

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Sicard ◽  
Evgenios Agathokleous ◽  
Alessandra De Marco ◽  
Elena Paoletti ◽  
Vicent Calatayud
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
World Health ◽  
Population Exposure ◽  
Ambient Air Quality ◽  
Air Quality Standards ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Background - The paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (Directive 2008/50/EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines by estimating the trends (Mann-Kendal test) in national emissions of main air pollutants, urban population exposure to air pollution, and in mortality related to exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3). Results - Despite significant reductions of emissions (e.g. sulfur oxides: ~80%, nitrogen oxides: ~46%, non-methane volatile organic compounds: ~44%, particulate matters with a diameter lower than 2.5µm and 10µm: ~30%), the EU-28 urban population was exposed to PM2.5 and O3 levels widely exceeding the WHO limit values for the protection of human health. Between 2000 and 2017, the annual PM2.5-related number of deaths decreased (- 4.85 per 106 inhabitants) in line with a reduction of PM2.5 levels observed at urban air quality monitoring stations. The rising O3 levels became a major public health issue in the EU-28 cities where the annual O3-related number of premature deaths increased (+ 0.55 deaths per 106 inhabitants). Conclusions - To achieve the objectives of the Ambient Air Quality Directives and mitigate air pollution impacts, actions need to be urgently taken at all governance levels. In this context, greening and re‐naturing cities can help meet air quality standards, but also answer to social needs, as recently highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

scholarly journals The Rises of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) death rate in Japan with high PM2.5

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Nawahda
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
World Health ◽  
Quality Guidelines ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Air Quality Guidelines ◽  
Respiratory Coronavirus ◽  
Death Cases

Abstract Currently vulnerable age groups in most countries are affected by the respiratory -coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Long-term-exposure to high levels of PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5μm) is also associated positively with repository deaths. The aim of this study is to find if high PM2.5 levels affect COVID-19 caused deaths in Japan. COVID-19 caused death and tested positive cases in all prefectures during the study period from Feb. 18 up to Apr. 16, 2020 are analyzed. PM2.5 caused deaths from 2010 to 2017 are calculated based on PM2.5-relative risk (RR) of 1.04 (95% CI: 1.01 – 1.08) from the World Health Organization-Air Quality Guidelines (WHO–AQG). The findings of this study show that old people who are living in prefectures with high levels of PM2.5 are the most vulnerable to COVID-19. The estimated death cases from 2010 to 2017 are about 115,532 (95% CI: 28,883 - 231,064) cases. Thus; policy decision makers could consider PM2.5 data to support their efforts not only to minimize the spread of COVID-19, but also to improve air quality.

Performance of Home-Scale Incinerator in Releasing NOx and Hydrocarbon Gaseous

2014 ◽  
Vol 695 ◽  
pp. 357-360
Author(s):  
M.M. Taha ◽  
Nona Merry M. Mitan ◽  
Juffrizal Karjanto ◽  
M.Y. Nidzamuddin
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Ambient Air Quality ◽  
Kitchen Waste ◽  
Gas Emission ◽  
Safety Level ◽  
Yard Waste ◽  
Quality Guidelines ◽  
Disposable Diapers ◽  
Air Quality Guidelines

Treatment of municipal solid waste has been performed by home-scale incinerator (HSI) to identify the gas emission formation and to evaluate the safety level of gases from home scale incinerator (HSI). Incineration of kitchen waste, disposable diapers and yard waste were performed with 1.5 kg for different time of combustion and observed every 5 minutes. These three wastes emitted at different value of NOx due to the composition of waste. The highest value of NOx obtained from kitchen waste was 23 ppm after 25 minutes, disposable diapers was 40 ppm after 20 minutes and yard waste was 56 ppm after 15 minutes. According to Malaysian Ambient Air Quality Guidelines, the emitted NOx gas from HSI meet the requirement while HC did not meet the requirement.

scholarly journals Ambient Air Quality Monitoring: Impetus, Complexities, Challenges and Solutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-58
Author(s):  
Rao Tatavarti
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Quality Monitoring ◽  
World Health ◽  
Air Quality Monitoring ◽  
Ambient Air Quality ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The World ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
Health Organization

The poor state of air quality all over the world in general, and across India in particular, is a cause for extreme concern as it is directly and indirectly linked to the deterioration of human health and economies of nations The many complexities and challenges posed by ambient air quality monitoring, prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to suggest a road map for all nations for the year 2020 -to arrive at a consensus for effective air quality monitoring by all stakeholders –nations and governments, regulatory and controlling bodies, NGOs, scientists and researchers and private citizens.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Gas and Chimney Biomass Stoves for Reducing Household Air Pollution Pregnancy Exposure in Guatemala: Sociodemographic Effect Modifiers

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7723
Author(s):  
Laura M. Grajeda ◽  
Lisa M. Thompson ◽  
William Arriaga ◽  
Eduardo Canuz ◽  
Saad B. Omer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Household Air Pollution ◽  
World Health ◽  
Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽  
Quality Guidelines ◽  
Sociodemographic Determinants ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Air Quality Guidelines

Household air pollution (HAP) due to solid fuel use during pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes. The real-life effectiveness of clean cooking interventions has been disappointing overall yet variable, but the sociodemographic determinants are not well described. We measured personal 24-h PM2.5 (particulate matter <2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter) thrice in pregnant women (n = 218) gravimetrically with Teflon filter, impactor, and personal pump setups. To estimate the effectiveness of owning chimney and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves (i.e., proportion of PM2.5 exposure that would be prevented) and to predict subject-specific typical exposures, we used linear mixed-effects models with log (PM2.5) as dependent variable and random intercept for subject. Median (IQR) personal PM2.5 in µg/m3 was 148 (90–249) for open fire, 78 (51–125) for chimney stove, and 55 (34–79) for LPG stoves. Adjusted effectiveness of LPG stoves was greater in women with ≥6 years of education (49% (95% CI: 34, 60)) versus <6 years (26% (95% CI: 5, 42)). In contrast, chimney stove adjusted effectiveness was greater in women with <6 years of education (50% (95% CI: 38, 60)), rural residence (46% (95% CI: 34, 55)) and lowest SES (socio-economic status) quartile (59% (95% CI: 45, 70)) than ≥6 years education (16% (95% CI: 22, 43)), urban (23% (95% CI: −164, 42)) and highest SES quartile (−44% (95% CI: −183, 27)), respectively. A minority of LPG stove owners (12%) and no chimney owner had typical exposure below World Health Organization Air Quality guidelines (35 μg/m3). Although having a cleaner stove alone typically does not lower exposure enough to protect health, understanding sociodemographic determinants of effectiveness may lead to better targeting, implementation, and adoption of interventions.

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