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The
following articles report that expressways increase health
risks.
September
3, 2003
STUDY TO LOOK AT CAR POLLUTION AND OUR HEALTH
The Hamilton Spectator
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research are giving McMaster
University medical geographer Michael Jerrett more than
$400,000 to study the effect of traffic-generated air pollution
on humans in Hamilton and Toronto.
Jerrett
says the study involves placing pollution monitors along
roads, on people, in homes and outside homes.
It
follows research in the Netherlands last year that showed
a near doubling of deaths from cardiovascular disease among
people who lived within 50 metres of a busy urban road or
100 metres of a highway like the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway.
Jerrett
says those people inhale toxic gases and dangerous tiny
pollutant particles and are also under stress from traffic
noise.
"Roadways
are a very big risk, especially for heart disease. Unfortunately,
roads are put very close to schools and day care centres.
At the McMaster day care, peak pollution at the playground
is about double the federal standard for fine particles."
September
3, 2003
Pollution hits poor most: study
McMaster researcher finds unfair distribution of pollution's
health risks
By Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
Medical geographer Michael Jerrett says Hamiltonians in lower-city,
lower-income neighbourhoods are victims of environmental injustice
— exposed to higher doses of dangerous air pollution
than people who can afford to live farther away from industry
and heavy traffic.
While
new McMaster University research shows higher-income people
in the same neighbourhoods are also at greater risk of dying
from dirty air, experts say the poor suffer most, because
they tend to be poorly housed, poorly nourished, less educated
and less likely to get good primary medical care.
Jerrett
said the disparity shows Canadian society is not as egalitarian
as we like to think and that the health risk of pollution
is not equally distributed, despite our social safety net
and universal health care.
"We
think we are an egalitarian, fair-minded society, but that
isn't the way it plays out on the landscape."
As
The Spectator reported yesterday, a paper in the current
edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal clearly
shows for the first time in this country that pollution
risk in the Hamilton-Burlington area varies by neighbourhood
and income, with rich people in clean neighbourhoods faring
best and poor people in poor neighbourhoods worst.
Earlier
studies have shown that people who are economically disadvantaged
are more likely to live in areas of higher pollution because,
as pollution worsens, property values become depressed and
cheap housing attracts low-income families.
Jerrett
said, however, the pattern is changing as some big plants
clean up, as automakers outsource parts, and as highway
traffic grows. Pollution sources are more diverse, and even
many affluent people live near highways.
He's
currently working on research that shows "the pattern
of pollution is changing dramatically, it's not as concentrated,
and traffic accounts for a higher proportion."
For
instance, he said, particulate pollution around The Hamilton
Spectator building, beside Main Street West at Highway 403,
is almost as high as industrial areas in the east end.
"My
hypothesis is that we're in the midst of a transformation,
of an evolution toward a more equitable distribution of
pollution."
Jerrett
said the study published yesterday also shows it's not just
the smog days we have to worry about. "It's not just
the acute exposures that cause death, it's the day-in, day-out
exposures to pollution."
The
Mac research team led by Dr. Murray Finkelstein looked at
5,200 people referred to the Firestone Clinic at St. Joseph's
Hospital for lung-function tests. They were all 40 or older.
Interestingly,
they found the younger people suffered the most severe health
effects of pollution. Jerrett said dirty air "is shortening
the lives of otherwise healthy people, probably in the prime
of their lives."
Jerrett
is working on a report for Clean Air Hamilton, attempting
to update the estimate of how many people in the city die
from air pollution each year. An earlier figure of 250 was
based on American studies.
He
says the update will likely result in a higher toll.
"It's
important to know these things," he said. "The
problem with air pollution in the policy arena is that it's
an insidious, slow-moving phenomenon, not like the Walkerton
water tragedy. We know the effects statistically, but can't
say this person went to hospital because of air pollution.
We can't say this person developed heart disease or asthma
as they were exposed over and over again, but it's a bigger
burden on health care than we realize."
An
excerpt from
"Health Risk High for Poor",
by Eric McGuiness, The Hamilton Spectator,
September 2, 2003.
He
[Michael Jerrett] also said traffic-related pollution is
becoming a bigger factor as industries clean up, "and
virtually everyone lives close to a major road or highway,
and that significantly elevates your risk of dying."
Both
Finkelstein and Jerrett say their work supports the argument
that reducing car use and controlling air pollution can
keep people healthier, offsetting the need to put more money
into hospitals.
Jerrett
compares it to preventing your car from rusting rather than
trying to repair rust. He says, "We have to prevent
ourselves from rusting away from chronic exposure to air
pollution."
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