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CARS/IMPACT
ON HUMAN HEALTH
source: www.worldcarfree.net/
resources/stats.php
www.unep.org/GEO/geo3/english/
376.htm
observer.guardian.co.uk/carbontrust/
story/0,16099,1511925,00.html
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Exhaust fumes cause acid air, pollution, cancer, lead poisoning and a variety of bronchial and respiratory illnesses. The average car emits a cocktail of more than 1,000 pollutants… - Tetraethyl Lead: added to fuel to increase the output power of the engine. Effects: it is extremely toxic and can affect almost any organ of the body. Low-level exposure over a long period most commonly affects the nervous system and blood. Can impair the mental abilities of children. 7 out of 10 children in Mexico City have had their development stunted by lead poisoning from cars;
- Benzene: occurs naturally in crude oil. High benzene crudes sometimes added to fuel to improve the properties of premium unleaded gasoline. Highest concentration levels outdoors are in urban areas, and especially near petrol stations, petrol tanks and benzene producing/handling industries. Effects: a proven carcinogen. Studies on benzene-exposed workers show statistically significant association to acute leukaemia. No safe level of airborne benzene can be recommended, as benzene is carcinogenic to humans and there is no known safe threshold level;
- Carbon Monoxide: cars are the major source of carbon monoxide, accounting for over 65% of emissions in OECD countries. Effects: one of the most directly toxic substances, it affects human health by impairing the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood causing impaired perception, slowing reflexes and drowsiness. It can increase occurrence of headaches and affects the central nervous system, the heart and the transference of blood around the body. In large doses, it is fatal;
- Nitrogen Dioxide: affects humans and plants, reducing growth and causing lesions in sensitive crops, whilst in humans causing irritation to the respiratory tract, reducing lung function and possibly increasing susceptibility to viral infections;
- Nitric Oxide and Nitrogen Dioxide: together play major role in formation of acid rain and in Europe are thought to contribute up to half of the acidification of rain. In OECD countries, 47% of nitrogen oxides come from road vehicles. They also contribute to the formation of ground level ozone, affect the acidification of soil and cause changes in ground flora - the development of nitrogen loving species at the expense of other species - and the over development of micro-flora in seas and lakes, creating a lack of oxygen in the water which kills wildlife;
- Low Level Ozone: the production of ozone is an indirect consequence of car pollution. It results from photochemical reactions between hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. Ozone is the main ingredient in photochemical smog, which effects eye irritation, headaches, coughing, impaired lung function and eye, nose and throat irritation. Asthmatics and children are most at risk. On a single bad day in Athens the smog can kill 8 people and send up to 200 people to hospital. Background levels of tropospheric ozone are thought to have doubled in the northern hemisphere over the past century. Ozone is also the single most important pollutant affecting vegetation. It damages food crops, particularly potatoes, tomatoes, wheat and spinach, with leaf diseases. This causes farmers to switch to less sensitive crops, leading to loss of biodiversity. With present ozone levels in Switzerland, agricultural losses cost at least US$200 per hectare. Ozone damage also affects forests in America and Europe - pines and larches are particularly sensitive;
- Sulphurous emissions: cause soil and water acidification, damage to plants (especially trees, mosses and certain lichens), and smog.
Catalytic converters are able to reduce emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides but…- catalytic converters have been shown to reduce emissions of carbon monoxide by 80% under test conditions. But, despite their use for 3 decades in the US, high levels of carbon monoxide remain a problem in urban areas. This is probably due to a combination of very high emissions when catalysts are cold and ineffective, complete catalyst failure and deliberate misfuelling or tampering;
- catalytic converters have been shown to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide by 95%, but in actually use emissions depend on speed. Minimum emissions occur between 40-60 miles (about 65-95 Km) per hour and increase with higher speeds.
The best way of reducing the amount of toxic air pollutants in the atmosphere is through a reduction in the emissions from the sources that cause them… - the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 700,000 deaths annually could be prevented in developing countries if three major atmospheric pollutants - carbon monoxide, suspended particulate matter, and lead - were brought down to safer levels. The direct health cost of urban air pollution in developing countries was estimated in 1995 at nearly US$100bn a year;
- the WHO, in its recent “World Health Report” estimated that - at current ambient levels - air pollution causes 35,000 premature deaths each year in Latin America. The air pollution in Mexican cities comes predominantly from the cars, trucks, and buses that ply the road. Most vehicles do not have adequate pollution controls, nor are they fuelled with especially clean fuel;
- however, when ultra-low- sulphur fuels are used in combination with advanced control technologies, the emissions reductions from diesel and gasoline vehicles are dramatic. For example, catalysed filters can reduce particle emissions from diesel vehicles by up to 95%. This level of improvement in air quality is expected to result in roughly 4,000 fewer premature deaths each year in Mexico City. Monetising these and other health benefits using values developed specifically for Mexico, this translates into US$3 billion to US$5 billion in annual health benefits for Mexico City alone; (1)
- cars and smokestacks are just two of the factors that have made China the home of the world's worst environmental problems. 2/3 of Chinese cities have air quality below WHO standards - and 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China, including Beijing. China's environmental agency calculates that living in Chinese cities does more damage to a person's lungs than smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. By 2020, the environmental agency estimates that 500,000 people will die prematurely every year from bronchitis and similar illnesses; (2)
- traffic has become a major air polluter in the big cities, although most Asian countries have low per capita vehicle ownership in comparison to the world average. A World Bank report notes that health-related losses caused by auto emissions in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur alone amount to US$5 billion annually;
- having suffered from severe air pollution, Japan introduced regulations on the exhaust levels of gasoline engines under the Air Pollution Law, which took effect in 1973. Under a revision to be introduced in October 2005, cars will be restricted to emitting 1% of the level of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emitted in 1973. In Japan, the amount of CO2 emitted by an automobile per standard transport unit is 9 times greater than that produced by railways; (3)
- according to the Earth Policy Institute, air pollution claims the lives of 70,000 Americans every year (nearly double those killed in car crashes).
- in European cities around 80,000 adult deaths a year are estimated to be related to long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution. A WHO report found that long term air pollution from cars in Austria, Switzerland and France triggered an extra 21,000 premature deaths per year from respiratory or heart diseases - more than the total number of annual traffic deaths in the three countries;
- in the United Kingdom, air pollution causes between 12,000 and 24,000 premature deaths each year, according to the Committee on the Medical Effect of Air Pollutants. There was a doubling of asthma cases in children under-5 during the 1990s. One in eight children now suffer from the condition in the UK, a total of 1.4 million (this figure has increased six-fold over the past 25 years);
- the Institute for European Environmental Policy has published a report showing that car drivers breathe in up to 3 times more toxic exhaust fumes than pedestrians or cyclists. Cars do not protect drivers from pollution, as motorists are driving in a ‘tunnel of pollution’. Car drivers in the centre or outside lanes are subject to a huge build-up of toxic gases.
(1) [ www.cleantransportcouncil.org/documents/Molina_Mexico_
Strategy_2004.pdf]
(2) Clyde Prestowitz, “China and the Comfortable Road to Ruin”, The Globalist, July 21, 2005.
[ www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=4692]
(3) Toshiji Takatsu, “Sustainable City Development & Asian Urban Railways”, Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 35. [ www.jrtr.net/jrtr35/f04_tak.html]
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