Fowarded articles on climate effects and motor vehicle pollution, for you information. Nothing positive.
Quote from Walter Cronkite is from his op article in today's (Thursday) edition of The Capital Times. Food for thought. Mike "The politicians seeking office, including the president seeking re-election, are unlikely to give the environment the attention it deserves unless the people demand it. And the people aren't going to demand it unless somebody brings the problem, and particularly its urgency, to their attention." - Walter Cronkite ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Climate Changes Cause Malaria Epidemics Seasonal fluctuations in a region's climate play an important role in causing malaria epidemics in the African highlands, new research indicates. The research by University at Buffalo scientists is the first to demonstrate a strong correlation between climate variability and the increase in malaria epidemics that have struck the African highlands since the late 1980s. The study was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Our data show that climate variability plays a major role in initiating malaria epidemics in the East African highlands," said Guiyun Yan, associate professor of biological sciences in the university's College of Arts and Sciences and senior author of the paper. Under normal conditions malaria is rare in the highlands because of the cool weather. The re-emergence of epidemic malaria since the late 1980s in the East African highlands after being gone 60 years has baffled researchers. Because people in the highlands lack immunity that people have in regions where malaria transmission occurs year-round, their mortality rate is far higher. Source: United Press International, 18 February 2004 ======================= Asthma On The Rise In Asia Due To Mounting Urbanization, Pollution Asia's rapid urbanisation, dangerous pollution levels and poor medical treatment have triggered an alarming increase in asthma which affects 300 million people worldwide, experts said The global prevalence of asthma, already the world's largest respiratory killer, has increased steadily over the past 20 years due mostly to urban development, particularly in the region. "This problem is set to worsen as Asian populations become more urbanized, unless measures are taken now to improve treatment," the Asia Asthma Development Board (AADB) said at the World Asthma Meeting held here this week. Experts at the conference, attended by hundreds of scientists and doctors, warned that sufferers in Asia are particularly at risk because doctors are failing to address the chronic condition. "Asthma is becoming more of a concern in Asia ... and there is a growing problem with asthma related to people living in cities," said Richard Beasley of the Wellington School of Medicine, who co-authored a global strategy for asthma management and prevention. Urgent and immediate attention is needed in the region to close the widening treatment gap for the growing number of Asian asthmatics, he said. While several theories about the cause of asthma are in circulation, "undoubtedly one of the factors could be the use of motor vehicles and their emissions," said Eric Bateman, a professor at the University of Cape Town's Lung Institute. Control of the condition hinges on preventative treatment regimes such as inhaled cortico-steroids, but Asian doctors are often unaware of new medical treatments and control procedures or are reluctant to use them. The AADB said that poor treatment standards in the region "are leading to some of the highest mortality rates in the world; figures from China suggest that 36.7 of every 100,000 asthma patients will die." By comparison, in the United States' the death rate is 5.2 per 100,000 and in Canada 1.6. Singapore, with 16.1 deaths per 100,000, is also an area of concern in Asia and highlights the belief that urban areas are home to abnormally high numbers of asthma sufferers. Medical professor Nan-Shan Zhong, who heads the China Asthma Society, cast doubt on the AADB figure for China, but conceded asthma had reached alarming levels in the world's largest nation. In the southern city of Guangzhou, asthma prevalence in 13-14 year-olds jumped from 2.7 percent in 1994 to 3.8 percent in 2002, he said. "In towns and rural areas, very few doctors know how to treat asthma patients," he added. AADB chairman Christopher Lai from Hong Kong said the condition can be brought to heel. "It can be completely controlled ... but patients and doctors have a low expectation of asthma control and many of them do not realize asthma can be treated to such an extent," he told AFP. The recent emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people and infected 8,000 last year, and the ongoing bird flu epidemic has dominated health experts' attention, he said. Asthma, a chronic condition of the lungs in which airways become inflamed and swollen, is second to cancer as the major cause of adult death and disability worldwide, with 180,000 preventable deaths per year, according to the AADB. Source: Agence France-Presse, 17 February 2004 ==================== Dust, Toxic Gases Dog Dhaka : Pollution Double the Standards The city dwellers have been exposed to a high concentration of various toxic gases and dust in the air and consequent health hazards with the onset of the dry season more than two months ago, Department of Environment (DoE) experts said. The air quality monitored in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban area under a scheme called Continuous Air Monitoring Station (CAMS) showed that most of the time from December till now the Air Quality Index Value (AQIV) was between 198 and 200 and above. An AQIV of less than 100 shows good air quality and over 100 represents unhealthy air quality. The monitoring station has warned that at present the city air is "very unhealthy" and that the situation will not improve till rain comes. Although dust content in the air is not measured, it has a high concentration of mainly carbon monoxide, hydro-carbon, sulpher dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Most of these gases are emitted by vehicles, brick kilns and industries. The air quality was however "good" during the recent Eid-ul-Azha holidays when millions of the city population moved out to their village homes. DoE experts attributed the air pollution mainly to vehicular emission. Thousands of vehicles ply the city streets without fitness certificates turning the metropolis into a virtual gas chamber. Ill maintained construction sites are constantly spewing dust in the atmosphere. Road digging is also causing dust pollution of air. Moreover, Dhaka is surrounded by at least 2,000 brick kilns, which function during the dry season. Although almost all the kilns have long chimneys for better disposal of harmful smoke, a large quantity of particulate matters is still sprayed in the air, further polluting the atmosphere. DoE experts said rapid and unplanned urbanisation is turning the capital into a huge concrete slab engulfing green areas and waterbodies. "When particulate matters fall on earth or wetlands, they get absorbed quickly. But when these matters fall on concrete, vehicular movements make them airborne and the respiratory system of every individual, particularly children, bears the brunt," one expert noted. During the four months of dry season, air pollution contributes to various respiratory diseases in Dhaka. Hospitals, clinics and doctors' chambers reported a rush of patients suffering from respiratory complications. Drug stores said sale of medicines for respiratory problems rose manifold in the just ended winter. Meanwhile the DoE is now implementing a Tk 29cr Air Quality Management Project, which will also set a standard for vehicular emission for issuance of fitness certificates. The DoE is also working to revise the existing air quality standards. Officials of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority admitted at a recent meeting that 50 percent of the vehicles in the capital do not have fitness certificates, a DoE source mentioned. "Mere change of law may not help improve the situation. We have to force unfit vehicles to obtain fitness certificates by getting repaired and complying with the standards," he stressed. Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) with only six sprinkler trucks sometimes tries to contain dust at different places. But its efforts can hardly solve the problem. Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka told The Daily Star the DCC would launch 'a massive cleaning programme 'in June as soon as road repair works are completed. Source: Dhaka Daily Star ================================= Government Buckles Under Pressure from Petroleum Dealers By Naresh Newar As expected, it took just four days for the government to buckle under the pressure of petroleum dealers who closed down all 1,450 gas stations across the country this week. The government had decided to stop allowing gas stations to sell kerosene, saying it was too tempting for them not to mix subsidised kerosene with diesel and petrol. It told gas stations to keep their kerosene depots outside a one km radius from their gas stations. On Wednesday, the government agreed to give the gas dealers six months to comply with the regulation. The gas dealers have bought time, and they only got a slap on the wrist for threatening public health by the widespread adulteration of fuel. One spot check by this paper two years ago revealed that up to 45-50 percent of the diesel and petrol in Kathmandu�s gas stations were mixed with kerosene. Overwhelming public opposition to the strike and lobbying by the consumers� associations were not enough to bolster the government�s capacity to resist the dealers. However, the government says it will use the six months to conduct a probe on gas stations selling adulterated petrol. "Now it�s all up to the consumers, they have to be empowered," says Sri Krishna Shrestha, president of Pro-Public, an organisation campaigning actively against adulteration. Many feel the petroleum mafia is so strong, its tentacles go so high up in the Nepal Oil Corporation and the bureaucracy, that the government can�t really challenge it. But an official from the Department of Commerce put up a brave face, telling us: "We are firm in implementing our decision and the government will take severe measures as and when appropriate." The government had reportedly decided that, had the strike continued, it would have either forced the gas stations to open or got the Nepal Oil Corporation to scrap their dealership licenses. When the petrol strike started earlier this week, people thought this was again about prices. It wasn�t. Essentially, it was about one party that wanted to keep on adulterating fuel and pocketing the profit. The government decided to implement a task force recommendation to relocate kerosene pumps far from the petrol stations. It�s not that the mixture of kerosene in petrol takes place right in the petrol station, but the hope was that the problem would reduce to some extent. Actually, adulteration starts from the storage point in Amlekhgunj depot and there is a large network involved in this crime (Nepali Times #19, Nepal Oil Corruption). The mood on the street was turning ugly against the gas dealers. "The government finally acted, we support it, this crime has to stop," said Ramesh Thapa, who had queued up two hours in Pulchok. "They can�t bully the government and harass the people anymore. They should be punished!" shouted a visibly-upset Sita Lama on a mo-ped who was late for work because she had already waited an hour for gas. These voices were magnified in public discussions on FM stations like Sagarmatha where the gas dealers and the government came under a sustained barrage of criticism for being unable to stop adulteration. Their message was simple: don�t let the petrol mafia get away this time. There has been evidence that almost 60 percent of the petrol stations around the country are selling adulterated petrol and this has been going on for years. Following an investigative report by this publication and Himal Khabarpatrika in 2000, the government set up a probe committee under Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. Only a handful of gas stations who openly admitted adulteration were ever penalised. Now, the gas stations have bought time. The government will be involved in the same kind of study conducted five months ago by the probe committee which revealed that 60 percent of gas stations were selling adulterated fuel. For another six months, the Nepali public will be using diluted diesel and petrol and breathing its carcinogenic fumes. Kerosene in petrol and diesel does not burn completely and releases cancer-causing hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides and carbon monoxide instead of the less-harmful carbon dioxide. Besides destroying engines, it also harms human lungs. Kerosene destroys the catalytic converter, allowing benzene additives in the petrol to escape into the atmosphere. Benzene is a known cancer-causing gas. Asthma is on the rise in Kathmandu, caused mainly by the soot particulates in the air from vehicle exhausts burning adulterated fuels. Another health problem is hypoxia, which is caused by lack of oxygen in the blood and is related to excessive carbon monoxide in the air, again caused by incomplete combustion. Hypoxia leads to fatigue and dizziness and is the cause of numerous traffic accidents. Valley vehicles are increasing at 13 percent a year, and most vehicles are poorly maintained and use low quality fuel. The more the government delays taking extreme measures to reduce adulteration, the more public health is at risk. Children suffer the most from respiratory problems. A World Bank study in 1995 showed Kathmandu�s air pollution even then caused almost 5,000 cases of bronchitis in children and 20,000 cases of asthma per year. At the rate of vehicle growth, the situation must be much worse now. In monetary terms, this impact causes the loss of approximately Rs 200,000,000 per year. Many consumers have lost their faith in the government ever resolving the problem because it is hand-in-glove with the petroleum mafia. They say giving the gas stations another six months already smacks of corruption. Even moving kerosene supply one km away from gas stations is not the answer. "That is just a temporary solution, we must look at subsidies, and improve monitoring and quality control," says Pro-Public�s Shrestha. Source: Nepali Times #184 ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
