Public health is at risk from increased air pollution

From Nate Seltenrich, Environmental Health Perspectives, July 27, 2018

Could air pollution be a trigger for suicide? Researchers first began asking this question less than a decade ago. Accumulated evidence from around the world now suggests there may well be a connection, although the nature of such a connection is still unknown. The authors of a study in Environmental Health Perspectives add to the evidence for this link, drawing upon a robust data set of pollution and suicide figures.

The researchers examined the relationship between daily suicide deaths and daily mean levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and categories of particulate matter (PM10,  PM10–2.5,  PM2.5) in 10 large Northeast Asian cities. The data covered one to three decades, depending on the country. The team controlled for variables such as hours of daylight, day of week, and ambient temperature, which can potentially affect the risk of suicide.

On a city-by-city basis, higher levels of air pollution were not always associated with higher suicide risk; in some cities, the association was even reversed, with increases in air pollution associated with lower risks of suicide. But when up to 30 years of information for PM10, NO2, and SO2 was combined across all 10 cities, higher average exposures on the same day and over the previous 1–3 days were associated with a higher daily suicide risk. Combined estimates for PM10 and PM10–2.5 across three cities with two to eight years of data also suggested an increased risk of suicide with higher exposures. However, these estimates were less precise, particularly for PM2.5.

The estimated increases in suicide risk were small but consistent. For example, each 4.3-ppb increase in average daily exposure to SO2 was associated with a 2.0% increase in estimated suicide risk on the same day, while each increase of 36.4 mg/m3 in PM10 was associated with a 1.6% increase in estimated risk.

“Previous studies have considered [data for] maybe a decade or so, but having up to thirty years is a unique contribution,” says University of Utah professor of psychiatry Amanda Bakian, who was not affiliated with the study. “There’s growing evidence to suggest an association between ambient air pollution and suicide risk in diverse populations from around the world.”

Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan share more than just the waters of the East China Sea. They all have above-average suicide rates, with South Korea ranking fourth worldwide in 2016 with 26.9 deaths per 100,000 people and Japan fourteenth with 18.5. Taiwan’s rate of 16 per 100,000 in 2016 also significantly exceeded the global average of 10.6. Worldwide, roughly 800,000 people die from suicide every year.

One major unanswered question is exactly how specific pollutants, or air pollution in general, might influence suicide risk. The young line of inquiry has yet to provide any answers, although some studies have suggested that neuroinflammation may be involved. The authors note that suicide is a complex behavior linked to a number of psychosocial factors. Geographical differences such as cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic factors, and sources and components of air pollution all deserve consideration, they write.

“From my perspective, the broader take-home message relates to how we think about preventing suicide,” says Sunnybrook Research Institute’s Mark Sinyor, a psychiatrist and expert in mood disorders and suicide prevention, who was not affiliated with the study. “Any effort to make an enduring dent in suicide rates must address broader social problems and, as the evidence increasingly suggests, environmental problems such as air pollution as well. That may seem daunting, but at least there is a confluence of agendas—efforts to protect and improve our world are also likely to lead to fewer suicide deaths.”

>>> Nate Seltenrich covers science and the environment from the San Francisco Bay Area.

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See also: “Noise Is The Next Great Public Heatlh Crisis. Here’s How It Will Affect Your Health,” Neel V. Patel, The Future Society, December 19, 2018

https://futurism.com/future-noise-pollution/

Fossil Fuels CAUSE Global Warming

Climate Change Impacts: American’s Health Hurt By Global Warming, Doctors Say

From an Article by Denisse Moreno, I B Times, March 15, 2017

Climate change is already harming Americans’ health, a report released Wednesday by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, which represents more than half of the country’s doctors, found.

“Climate change is already causing problems in communities in every region of our nation, and from a doctor’s perspective, it’s harming our health,” said the consortium.

The report pointed out that Americans may not be aware of health harms attributed to climate change, which is backed up by a 2014 study by Yale University and George Mason University. Few Americans are aware that some groups, such as children, the elderly or the poor, are more susceptible to harm associated to climate change. The 2014 study also found only one in four Americans can name one way climate change can harm a person’s health.

“Most Americans understand that climate change is real and are concerned about it,” the doctors said in the report. “But most still see climate change as a faraway threat, in both time and place, and as something that threatens the future of polar bears but not necessarily people.”

How Climate Change Harms Americans

Harms caused by climate change include heat-related sickness, worsening chronic illnesses, injuries and deaths from weather events, air pollution, infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks, illnesses from contaminated food and water and mental health problems, the consortium said.

“Public health professionals know this too, because they’re seeing increasing rates of health problems associated with climate change in their communities,” the report said.

Climate change can harm the health of any American, especially children, pregnant women, the elderly, the poor, student athletes and those with chronic illnesses and allergies.

For example, heat illnesses are a leading cause of death and disability for young athletes, with about 9,000 high school athletes treated for heat-related illnesses annually. Climate change can also cause droughts and wildfires, which can lead to heart attacks, respiratory infections and asthma.

The report comes after 2016 was officially declared the hottest year on record by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) and the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ). Last year’s record surpassed 2015 and 2014 numbers, making it the third consecutive year of record-breaking numbers.

Global warming also heightens the risk of diseases via mosquitoes and ticks.

“Across the country, doctors are seeing more patients struck ill by serious diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile fever,” Dr. Nitin Damle, President of the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in the report. “Because of the changing climate and the spread of vectors, we expect that Americans will continue to face new diseases and familiar diseases in new places.”

Last December, researchers from the University of Liverpool said the weather phenomenon El Niño and climate change fueled the spread of the Zika virus in South America, which has been linked to birth defects and neurological complications, like microcephaly. Thousands of Zika cases have been reported in the U.S. and U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read: El Niño, Global Warming Fueled the Spread Of The Zika Virus, Scientists Say

The consortium mapped out how health is affected across regions in the country:

DIAGRAM: How climate change affects Americans based on reports from the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Photo: Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health

Taking Action On Climate Change

The doctors say the most important action to protect Americans’ health is to reduce heat-trapping pollution by decreasing energy waste and transitioning to clean renewable energy, which could help clean up our air and water.

“Unless we take concerted action, these harms to our health are going to get much worse,” the consortium said. “The sooner we take action, the more harm we can prevent, and the more we can protect the health of all Americans.”

President Donald Trump has denied climate change and previously said it was a “hoax” invented by the Chinese. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said last week he does not believe carbon dioxide emissions are a primary contributor to climate change, while scientific evidence suggests otherwise.

However, the majority of American people say environmental regulations are worth the cost, a December 2016 Pew Research Center survey found. Fifty-nine percent of Americans say stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth it, while 34 percent say laws would affect jobs and hurt the economy.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

World Bank Issues Warnings

Air pollution costs trillions and holds back poor countries, says World Bank

From an Article by John Vidal, The Guardian, September 8, 2016

<< Study finds dirty air takes huge economic toll on poor countries and costs the world more than $5tn annually in lost work days and welfare costs >> 

Air pollution costs the world trillions of dollars a year and severely impedes development in many countries, according to the World Bank.

In a major study (pdf) of the economic costs of indoor and outdoor pollution, the bank found that in 2013 – the year from which the latest available estimates date – China lost nearly 10% of its GDP, India 7.69% and Sri Lanka and Cambodia roughly 8%.

Rich countries are also losing tens of billions of dollars a year through lost work days and welfare costs from premature deaths. Dirty air was found to cost the UK $7.6bn (£5.6bn) a year, the US $45bn and Germany $18bn.

Zimbawe, Malawi and Central African Republic were among the world’s least polluted countries, but Liberia had the lowest lost labour costs among developing countries ($25m). Uruguay lost just 0.03% of its GDP, costing it $17m, but Iceland – with only 400,000 people, little industry and costs of just $3m – emerged as the cleanest country in the world overall.

Drawing on World Health Organisation data, the bank said that air pollution now kills 5.5m people a year prematurely, or one in 10 people worldwide. It is the fourth leading cause of premature deaths worldwide behind smoking, diet and obesity, and is known to lead to cancers and heart, lung and respiratory diseases. Air pollution is responsible for more than six times the number of deaths caused by malaria.

Without including the costs of treating illnesses linked to pollution, the bank calculated that in 2013 premature deaths alone cost the global economy about $225bn in lost work days. But the cost to the world economy rose to more than $5tn when welfare costs, which are based on what people were prepared to pay to avoid dying from air pollution, were calculated.

Even these figures may not reflect the full cost of air pollution, said the bank.“The figure could be very much more if it included health costs. We did not include the costs of [morbitity] illnesses caused by pollution,” said lead author Urvashi Narain, a senior environmental economist for the institution. “The scale of the problem is truly daunting. The poor are more likely to live in polluted areas and are less able to access healthcare.”

The report, entitled The Cost of Air Pollution: Strengthening the Economic Case for Action, stressed the toll on poor countries. “The health risk posed by air pollution is the greatest in developing countries,” said the authors. “In 2013 about 93% of deaths and non-fatal illnesses attributed to air pollution worldwide occurred in these countries, where 90% of the population was exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.”

Outdoor air pollution was growing in many countries, said the report, reflecting the massive rise in car numbers. But it said billions of people in developing countries continue to depend on burning solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, coaland dung in their homes for cooking and heating.

“Air pollution is not just a health risk but also a drag on development. By causing illness and premature death, [it] reduces the quality of life. By causing a loss of productive labor, it also reduces incomes in these countries,” said the authors.

The study drew a link between economic development and air pollution. From 1990 to 2013, welfare losses nearly doubled and labour income losses increased by 40%, despite countries having made great gains in economic development and health outcomes.

In low-income countries, declining death rates were more than offset by population growth and greater total exposure to polluted air. “Ambient air pollution is becoming a greater challenge,” said the report. “Since the 1990s, exposure to [it] has grown in most countries with some of the greatest increases in the heavily populated, fastest-growing regions, including south Asia and east Asia and the Pacific.”

By 2013, about 87% of the world’s population was living in areas that exceeded safe levels recommended by the World Health Organisation, added the authors, who warned that the poorest were most affected. “Apart from the sheer magnitude of the costs, the disproportionate impacts on the poorest segments of the population make air pollution a threat to shared and inclusive prosperity. The poor are more likely to live and work in polluted environments, but they are less able to avoid exposure or self-protect,” said the report.

“In the US, research dating back to the 1970s has documented how toxic facilities and sources of air pollution have tended to be sited near poor minority communities.”

While pollution-related deaths mainly strike young children and the elderly, premature deaths also result in lost income for working-age men and women. The report found that annual work income losses cost the equivalent of almost 1% of GDP in south Asia. In east Asia and the Pacific, where the population is ageing, labour income losses represent 0.25% of GDP, while in sub-Saharan Africa, where air pollution impairs the earning potential of younger populations, such losses represent the equivalent of 0.61% of GDP.

When looking at fatalities across all age groups through the lens of “welfare losses” – an approach commonly used to evaluate the costs and benefits of environmental regulations in a given country context – the aggregate worldwide cost of premature deaths in 2013 was more than $5tn. In east and south Asia, welfare losses related to air pollution were the equivalent of about 7.5% of GDP.

“Air pollution is a challenge that threatens basic human welfare, damages natural and physical capital, and constrains economic growth,” said Laura Tuck, vice-president for sustainable development at the World Bank.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Conaway Lake on Tyler County road

W.Va. wildlife land fracking could yield $6M, royalties

From an Article by the Associated Press, Huntington Herald Dispatch, November 21, 2014

Charleston, WV — A company has bid $6.2 million plus royalties to drill for natural gas and oil under state wildlife conservation land in Tyler County. Denver-based Antero Resources is offering to pay more than $12,000 an acre for fracking rights under Conaway Run Wildlife Management Area, state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said.

The bid includes a 20-percent royalty on what’s extracted, and the lease would likely last three years. The bid on the 518-acre wildlife area’s oil and natural gas rights was unveiled Friday in Charleston. The land is used for hunting, fishing and camping, and includes a 100-yard rifle range.

It’s the second time West Virginia has offered to let companies drill horizontally under its land. Leasing the land for the technique called hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, is a new venture for West Virginia, and officials think it could produce plenty of money during uncertain budget times.

In West Virginia’s first try at fracking leases, officials opened bids for 22 miles of state land under the Ohio River in September. Six miles are under contract negotiations and another 11 miles are out for bid or will be shortly. Seven additional miles are being considered for bid openings.

Environmental groups cautioned Gov. Early Ray Tomblin to reconsider the Ohio River leases, since they would allow drilling beneath a river that provides drinking water to millions of people. Burdette said the drilling would occur about a mile under the river. State environmental regulators would still have to approve permits for the operations. All drilling equipment would need to be off-site of the state lands, Burdette added.

Other properties the state is thinking about leasing rights for include: 131 acres under Fish Creek in Marshall County; Jug Wildlife Management Area in Tyler County; and 24 acres in Doddridge County.

No fracking contracts have yet been finalized, however. All the money from the state’s fracking leases would go back into Division of Natural Resources needs, like upgrades at state parks.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Majorsville Gas Processing Plant, Marshall County, WV near PA Border

PA-DEP says air emissions from gas drilling improve

From an Article by Laura Legere, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 3, 2014

Harrisburg, PA — Air pollutants emitted by Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry stayed relatively level in 2012 — and remained a small fraction of the state’s total emissions — despite more pipeline and processing companies being required to report information to the state, environmental regulators told an air quality advisory board on Thursday. The PA Department of Environmental Protection released the first tally of air emissions information from shale and other unconventional natural gas drilling and pipeline companies last year.

The new inventory added for the first time data from processing plants and compressor stations that handle gas from conventional wells. Because of the change, 30 more midstream companies that run compressor stations and processing plants — or a total of 70 companies — reported emissions information for 2012. Fifty-six unconventional drilling companies reported their emissions, one fewer than 2011. Operators of conventional wells were not required to report their emissions.

Despite the added facilities included in the report, 2012 emissions of nitrogen oxides declined slightly to 16,400 tons from 16,500 tons in 2011. Mike Rudawski of DEP’s bureau of air quality attributed the flat level to the fact that more emissions from compressor station engines canceled out a decline in emissions from fewer operating drilling rigs.

PA-DEP saw an increase in emissions of volatile organic compounds from 2,800 tons in 2011 to 4,000 tons in 2012. Most of that increase came from compressor station engines, as well as from pumps and equipment leaks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that volatile organic compounds “include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects.” Lung-damaging pollution is created by chemical reactions between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, especially during warmer times of the year.

“There are some significant emissions, as we expected when we decided to require the emission inventory,” Mr. Rudawski said during a meeting of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee. But new emissions from the growing natural gas industry have been more than offset by overall emissions reductions statewide, some of which are attributable to an increased use of natural gas instead of coal to generate power.

Overall sulfur dioxide emissions were cut by nearly 590,000 tons per year during the four-year span between 2008 and 2012. That improvement was credited to better control equipment on power plants, as well as more plants converting to natural gas, PA-DEP said. Overall emissions of nitrogen oxides declined 53,000 tons during the four-year period and volatile organic compounds declined 1,300 tons.

Committee member H. James Sewell, environmental and regulatory team leader for Shell Appalachia, said operators have already submitted their 2013 emissions data to the state and his company’s tally showed continued improvement. “In 2013, we show a decrease in [nitrogen oxides] in our drill rigs because of the use of natural gas instead of diesel fuel,” he said.

Committee member Kevin Stewart, director of environmental health for the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic, said that although he was reassured to see the positive wintertime ozone data, he would like to see more detail on air pollution changes in the counties most affected by drilling.

“The inventory report is good for a broad look, but it is not designed to look at the kind of local exposures a particular household is getting immediately downwind, a few hundred yards from a facility,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things that also deserve the appropriate attention.”

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NOTE:  There are three important points of monumental significance here.  Firstly, Marcellus shale drilling and fracking for natural gas are very disruptive, inefficient and unsafe.  Secondly, the leaked methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas; and, the natural gas product when burned also produces a greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide). Thirdly, the nature and extent of Marcellus impacts in southwestern PA and northern WV can be seen so very clearly in the photo reports of the Marcellus-Shale.us web site here.  Above photo from:  www.Marcellus-Shale.us