RED DEER – The complexity of chemicals and particulates suspended in
the atmosphere makes it nearly impossible to develop acceptable air
quality guidelines.
“People have been quite troubled by the notion that the science is
telling us there is simply no way that government can eliminate risk or
provide people with complete safety or a margin of safety,” said Ray
Copes, an occupational health physician with the British Columbia
health department.
He spoke at the recent clean air strategic
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alliance conference held in Red Deer. The
alliance includes industry representatives from oil and gas, health,
agriculture and members of the public concerned about air quality.
Current standards and regulations for air quality are undergoing a
review to upgrade them based on new knowledge, said Copes.
International evidence indicates the effects of poor air quality are
long term and cumulative.
Air pollution gets less attention than poor water quality, yet as many
as 5,000 people die each year from air quality related illness, he
said. Many of those diseases might have been preventable.
Linked to disease
Some forms of cancer, heart disease and respiratory ailments have been
linked to common air pollutants. These adverse effects on health
occurred after people were exposed to relatively low concentrations.
Findings have been confirmed in many North American and European
communities.
Those at risk include children, pregnant women and people with
pre-existing conditions. Sheldon Roth, a physician and toxicologist at
the University of Calgary said other factors may include gender, race,
nutrition, socioeconomic factors, poor access to health care and place
of residence.
Air pollution is being evaluated as a more serious public health issue
so family physicians need to develop environmental risk histories of
their patients that include home air quality, community location,
hobbies, occupation, diet and drugs. The list of drugs should include
birth control pills, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and herbal medicines
that can react when mixed with other substances.
It is rare for an individual to react from exposure to a single
compound and the pollution may be linked to other factors like smoking,
backyard burning, diesel emissions, chemical vapours or mould in the
home. The combination of pollutants makes it nearly impossible to link
a specific chemical to a health problem.
“The more investigation we do, the better we are able to zero in on
this fraction or that fraction,” Copes said.
Indoor air quality is a growing area of study, said Anthony Mak, chief
health inspector of the Capital Health Region based in Edmonton.
People spend most of their time indoors so they are subjected to a wide
array of substances in the air that may harm health.
Exposures to household consumer products, building materials,
furnishings, human activities, fungi, bacteria, mites and viruses often
make indoor air quality worse than outside air, said Mak.
For further information on the clean air strategic alliance visit,
www.casahome.org.
