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posted by martyb on Friday March 10 2017, @10:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the banned-in-Cannes dept.

The Guardian reports on a study conducted in Guildford, Surrey, England. Researchers

[...] placed detectors for particulate pollution in prams and made 64 journeys to and from schools in Guildford at drop-off and pick-up times. They found that air pollution spiked at road junctions and by bus stands, and that fine particle pollution was higher in the mornings, when the roads are busiest.

"Fine particles show larger health impacts compared to their larger counterparts and at the young age children are more susceptible to particulate pollution, suggesting a clear need for precautionary measures to limit their exposure during their transport along the busy roadsides," the researchers concluded.

Their work is published in Environmental Pollution (DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.02.021).

The Guardian links to a Telegraph article which says that

Of the 51 areas across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland included in the [World Health Organisation's global pollution] database, 40 exceeded the WHO's guideline limits for 'PM2.5', or fine particulate matter, while 10 exceeded the guideline levels for 'PM10', slightly larger particulate pollution.

London, Glasgow, Leeds, Eastbourne, Port Talbot and Scunthorpe were among the worst areas.


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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday March 10 2017, @01:45PM (4 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Friday March 10 2017, @01:45PM (#477343) Homepage
    Nothing is worse for particulate and noxious gas intake than being sat right behind the exhaust pipe of the vehicle in front. Even cyclists get better air, and pedestrians the cleanest of them all.

    Of course, one alternative possibility would be to address the source of the problem, rather than telling the victims to change their behaviour, but that might involve having to persuade people that they don't have the god-given right to pollute the air that they share with everyone.
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday March 10 2017, @03:57PM (2 children)

    by Unixnut (5779) on Friday March 10 2017, @03:57PM (#477389)

    > Nothing is worse for particulate and noxious gas intake than being sat right behind the exhaust pipe of the vehicle in front. Even cyclists get better air, and pedestrians the cleanest of them all.

    Is that true though? I just bought my first modern (post 2000's) car, and was reading the manual, they were talking about having to replace all kinds of air and particulate filters for the climate control system at regular intervals.

    Looking at the design, it seemed really well done. It filtered out particulate matter, pollen, dust, and used HEPA filters in combination with others in the setup. Quite frankly I suspect the cleanest air in the city is in the car at this point. And this isn't some top of the range new Mercedes or something, but an average hatchback sized Italian car from 2004, so I suspect this stuff is pretty common now.

    I sure can't walk or cycle around with all those filters in front of me (and even if I could, I would basically be wearing a gas mask, and probably end up arrested under some anti-Terror law).

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Friday March 10 2017, @06:12PM (1 child)

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday March 10 2017, @06:12PM (#477446)

      To solve both my pollution and congestion troubles, if I have to go to central London, I always take a modern main battle tank.

      • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday March 11 2017, @12:02AM

        by Unixnut (5779) on Saturday March 11 2017, @12:02AM (#477600)

        > To solve both my pollution and congestion troubles, if I have to go to central London, I always take a modern main battle tank.

        I can get behind that (both literally and figuratively) :-D

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday March 10 2017, @04:56PM

    by butthurt (6141) on Friday March 10 2017, @04:56PM (#477412) Journal

    > Even cyclists get better air [than drivers], and pedestrians the cleanest of them all.

    Not necessarily. From the Guardian article:

    Research published by Kumar’s team in February showed that drivers in London are the commuters least exposed to harmful particulate pollution, [doi.org] when compared with those taking the underground or the bus.

    The air coming into a car, when one has the windows closed, is typically filtered.