From the University of Washington:
Women living in areas with higher levels of air pollution have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and subsequently dying from cardiovascular causes, according to a University of Washington study appearing in the Feb. 1 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study is one of the largest of its kind, involving more than 65,000 Women's Health Initiative Observational Study participants, age 50 to 79, living in 36 cities across the United States.
UW researchers studied women who did not initially have cardiovascular disease, following them for up to nine years to see who went on to have a heart attack, stroke, or coronary bypass surgery, or died from cardiovascular causes. They linked this health information with the average outdoor air pollution levels near each woman's home, and found that higher pollution levels posed a significant hazard – much higher than previously thought – for development of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers studied levels of fine particulate matter, which are tiny airborne particles of soot or dust, and can come from a variety of sources, like vehicle exhaust, coal-fired power plants, industrial sources, and wood-burning fireplaces. These particles are less than 2.5 microns in diameter -- about 30 to 40 of them would equal the diameter of a human hair. Particulate matter levels are monitored and regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They're typically invisible to the human eye once they're in the atmosphere, though they may be visible in dense clouds as they come out of a tailpipe, smokestack or chimney, and are responsible for urban haze.
"These soot particles, which are typically created by fossil-fuel combustion in vehicles and power plants, can contain a complex mix of chemicals," explained Dr. Joel Kaufman, professor of environmental & occupational health sciences, epidemiology, and medicine at the UW, and leader of the study. "The tiny particles – and the pollutant gases that travel along with them – cause harmful effects once they are breathed in."
Fine particulate matter is measured in micrograms (or millionths of a gram) per cubic meter; cities in the study had average levels of fine particulate matter ranging from about 4 to nearly 20 micrograms per cubic meter. The researchers found that each 10-unit increase in fine particulate matter level was linked to a 76 percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, after taking into account known risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking. Higher long-term average levels of fine particulate matter also led to a higher overall risk of cardiovascular disease events, including stroke and heart attack.
They also found that local differences in particulate matter levels within a city, as well as exposure differences between cities, translate to a higher or lower risk of cardiovascular disease and related death.
"Our findings show that both what city a woman lived in, and where she lived in that city, affected her exposure level and her disease risk," said Kristin Miller, first author of the study and a doctoral student in epidemiology at the UW.
Previous studies have found apparent links between airborne particulate matter and cardiovascular disease, but this study was the first to look specifically at new cases of cardiovascular disease in previously healthy subjects and local air pollution levels within metropolitan areas. Researchers used data from the multi-site Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, which is funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and coordinated through a center based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provided funding for the study of the effects of air pollution.
Scientists don't understand exactly how fine particulate matter may be leading to cardiovascular disease, but some believe that the soot particles are accelerating atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which is the major precursor of heart disease.
"This could be a cellular and biochemical process that starts in the lung and then proceeds from there into the cardiovascular system," Kaufman explained. "Or it could be that these very small particles actually enter the blood stream through vessels in the lung, and then begin affecting blood vessels throughout the body."
Kaufman is leading a major new EPA-funded study to uncover these mechanisms – an air-pollution study based on the NIH's Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or MESA. The MESA Air Pollution Study tackles two key areas for understanding this problem, Kaufman said: investigating the mechanisms through which particulate matter leads to cardiovascular disease, and identifying the sources of pollution that cause the problem. "Preventing these effects requires reducing the pollution at the source," Kaufman said.
The implications of this connection could be very significant.
"More than one out of three deaths in the United States are due to cardiovascular disease – it's the leading cause of death," Miller said. "If the annual average concentration of fine particulate air pollution can be reduced, it would potentially translate on a national scale to the prevention or delay of thousands and thousands of heart attacks, strokes, and bypass surgeries, not to mention fewer early deaths."
An editorial from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital will accompany the study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal. In that editorial, the authors suggest public health interventions to address this problem, as well as a tightening of the EPA standards regulating fine particulate matter pollution.
In addition to Kaufman and Miller, the study included researchers from the UW School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Harborview Medical Center, all in Seattle.
NOTE: To determine the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter for a particular city or county, visit the EPA's Air Trends Web site and look for "PM 2.5 Wtd AM" in the tables provided. The most recent data available from the EPA is from 2005. http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/factbook.html
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Glaciers melting at unprecedented speed
Published: January 29 2007
Mountain glaciers around the world are melting at an unprecedented rate, according to new scientific data that will reinforce pressure on governments to take stronger action on global warming.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, said preliminary estimates for 2005 based on monitoring of 30 “reference” glaciers showed an average loss of 0.6 metres in ice thickness.
The 2005 figures match the average annual loss rate since 2000, which is one-and-a-half times the average annual ice loss in the 1990s and three times the loss rate of the 1980s, the WGMS said.
Mountain glaciers around the world are melting at an unprecedented rate, according to new scientific data that will reinforce pressure on governments to take stronger action on global warming.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, said preliminary estimates for 2005 based on monitoring of 30 “reference” glaciers showed an average loss of 0.6 metres in ice thickness.
The 2005 figures match the average annual loss rate since 2000, which is one-and-a-half times the average annual ice loss in the 1990s and three times the loss rate of the 1980s, the WGMS said.
Experts fear upcoming global warming report may understate problem
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures.
But that may be the sugarcoated version.
Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers.
Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations:
They "don't take into account the gorillas -- Greenland and Antarctica," said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. "I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century."
Michael MacCracken, who until 2001 coordinated the official U.S. government reviews of the international climate report on global warming, has fired off a letter of protest over the omission.
The melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are a fairly recent development that has taken scientists by surprise. They don't know how to predict its effects in their computer models. But many fear it will mean the world's coastlines are swamped much earlier than most predict.
Others believe the ice melt is temporary and won't play such a dramatic role.
That debate may be the central one as scientists and bureaucrats from around the world gather in Paris to finish the first of four major global warming reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel was created by the United Nations in 1988.
After four days of secret word-by-word editing, the final report will be issued Friday.
The early versions of the report predict that by 2100 the sea level will rise anywhere between 5 and 23 inches. That's far lower than the 20 to 55 inches forecast by 2100 in a study published in the peer-review journal Science this month. Other climate experts, including NASA's James Hansen, predict sea level rise that can be measured by feet more than inches.
The report is also expected to include some kind of proviso that says things could be much worse if ice sheets continue to melt.
The prediction being considered this week by the IPCC is "obviously not the full story because ice sheet decay is something we cannot model right now, but we know it's happening," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate panel lead author from Germany who made the larger prediction of up to 55 inches of sea level rise. "A document like that tends to underestimate the risk," he said.
"This will dominate their discussion because there's so much contentiousness about it," said Bob Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a multinational research effort. "If the IPCC comes out with significantly less than one meter (about 39 inches of sea level rise), there will be people in the science community saying we don't think that's a fair reflection of what we know."
In the past, the climate change panel didn't figure there would be large melt of ice in west Antarctica and Greenland this century and didn't factor it into the predictions. Those forecasts were based only on the sea level rise from melting glaciers (which are different from ice sheets) and the physical expansion of water as it warms.
But in 2002, Antarctica's 1,255-square-mile Larsen B ice shelf broke off and disappeared in just 35 days. And recent NASA data shows that Greenland is losing 53 cubic miles of ice each year -- twice the rate it was losing in 1996.
Even so, there are questions about how permanent the melting in Greenland and especially Antarctica are, said panel lead author Kevin Trenberth, chief of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.
While he said the melting ice sheets "raise a warning flag," Trenberth said he wonders if "some of this might just be temporary."
University of Alabama at Huntsville professor John Christy said Greenland didn't melt much within the past thousand years when it was warmer than now. Christy, a reviewer of the panel work, is a prominent so-called skeptic. He acknowledges that global warming is real and man-made, but he believes it is not as worrisome as advertised.
Those scientists who say sea level will rise even more are battling a consensus-building structure that routinely issues scientifically cautious global warming reports, scientists say.
The IPCC reports have to be unanimous, approved by 154 governments -- including the United States and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia -- and already published peer-reviewed research done before mid-2006.
Rahmstorf, a physics and oceanography professor at Potsdam University in Germany, says, "In a way, it is one of the strengths of the IPCC to be very conservative and cautious and not overstate any climate change risk."
But that may be the sugarcoated version.
Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers.
Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations:
They "don't take into account the gorillas -- Greenland and Antarctica," said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. "I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century."
Michael MacCracken, who until 2001 coordinated the official U.S. government reviews of the international climate report on global warming, has fired off a letter of protest over the omission.
The melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are a fairly recent development that has taken scientists by surprise. They don't know how to predict its effects in their computer models. But many fear it will mean the world's coastlines are swamped much earlier than most predict.
Others believe the ice melt is temporary and won't play such a dramatic role.
That debate may be the central one as scientists and bureaucrats from around the world gather in Paris to finish the first of four major global warming reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel was created by the United Nations in 1988.
After four days of secret word-by-word editing, the final report will be issued Friday.
The early versions of the report predict that by 2100 the sea level will rise anywhere between 5 and 23 inches. That's far lower than the 20 to 55 inches forecast by 2100 in a study published in the peer-review journal Science this month. Other climate experts, including NASA's James Hansen, predict sea level rise that can be measured by feet more than inches.
The report is also expected to include some kind of proviso that says things could be much worse if ice sheets continue to melt.
The prediction being considered this week by the IPCC is "obviously not the full story because ice sheet decay is something we cannot model right now, but we know it's happening," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate panel lead author from Germany who made the larger prediction of up to 55 inches of sea level rise. "A document like that tends to underestimate the risk," he said.
"This will dominate their discussion because there's so much contentiousness about it," said Bob Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a multinational research effort. "If the IPCC comes out with significantly less than one meter (about 39 inches of sea level rise), there will be people in the science community saying we don't think that's a fair reflection of what we know."
In the past, the climate change panel didn't figure there would be large melt of ice in west Antarctica and Greenland this century and didn't factor it into the predictions. Those forecasts were based only on the sea level rise from melting glaciers (which are different from ice sheets) and the physical expansion of water as it warms.
But in 2002, Antarctica's 1,255-square-mile Larsen B ice shelf broke off and disappeared in just 35 days. And recent NASA data shows that Greenland is losing 53 cubic miles of ice each year -- twice the rate it was losing in 1996.
Even so, there are questions about how permanent the melting in Greenland and especially Antarctica are, said panel lead author Kevin Trenberth, chief of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.
While he said the melting ice sheets "raise a warning flag," Trenberth said he wonders if "some of this might just be temporary."
University of Alabama at Huntsville professor John Christy said Greenland didn't melt much within the past thousand years when it was warmer than now. Christy, a reviewer of the panel work, is a prominent so-called skeptic. He acknowledges that global warming is real and man-made, but he believes it is not as worrisome as advertised.
Those scientists who say sea level will rise even more are battling a consensus-building structure that routinely issues scientifically cautious global warming reports, scientists say.
The IPCC reports have to be unanimous, approved by 154 governments -- including the United States and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia -- and already published peer-reviewed research done before mid-2006.
Rahmstorf, a physics and oceanography professor at Potsdam University in Germany, says, "In a way, it is one of the strengths of the IPCC to be very conservative and cautious and not overstate any climate change risk."
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Federal government: 2006 hottest year on record
We've been feeling the heat, and now the federal government confirms it:
2006 was the hottest year on record:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2772.htm
2006 was the hottest year on record:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2772.htm
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Air pollution increases risk of heart attack
Study: Air Pollution Increases Risk of Heart Attack
December 4th, 2006 @ 6:01pmEd Yeates Reporting (KSL TV, Utah)
The American Heart Association's respected publication "Circulation" shows people with clogged arteries have an increased risk of heart attack after short term exposure to air pollution.
We are in the beginning stage of our own seasonal air inversion. Bad air, like we see here every year, was the basis for this Utah collaborative study. Brigham Young University and LDS Hospital teamed up on this latest research.
And it was extensive. It shows that very short term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of heart attack in those who have coronary artery blockage.
Jeffrey Anderson, M.D., LDS Hospital Cardiologist: "What was sobering about this study is even one or two or three days of exposure can bring on a heart attack."
Dr Jeffrey Anderson, along with a team of LDS Hospital cardiologists and colleagues, joined epidemiological researcher Dr. Arden Pope at BYU to collect this latest data. It shows a four percent increased risk of a heart attack for every ten milligrams of air containing fine pieces of particulate or soot (less than one hundredths the width of a human hair).
Anderson: "That's small particulate. Now that sounds like a fairly small increase, but we, on a bad day, might have an increase of a hundred, so ten times that." These little fine pieces, suspended in heavier concentrations during inversions, pretty much all come from vehicles and industry. Dr. Arden Pope, BYU Epidemiological Research: "They're not generated by wind blown dust or anything like that. They're almost entirely from burning things or high temperature industrial processes."
Circulation is publishing the Utah study because the evidence is backed with big numbers. Dr. Benjamin Horne, LDS Hospital Public Health Research: "typical studies have hundreds. This one had thousands. We had about five to six-thousand individuals who were having unstable chest pain or heart attacks." Along with the five to six thousand LDS Hospital was specifically following, an additional eight thousand people came into the hospital electively on those bad air days. HORNE: "THIS IS A BIG PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE" More studies are yet to come. Researchers want to find out what the pollution-triggered inflammation mechanism really is that causes the problem. They also want to find ways to protect these people during inversions.
December 4th, 2006 @ 6:01pmEd Yeates Reporting (KSL TV, Utah)
The American Heart Association's respected publication "Circulation" shows people with clogged arteries have an increased risk of heart attack after short term exposure to air pollution.
We are in the beginning stage of our own seasonal air inversion. Bad air, like we see here every year, was the basis for this Utah collaborative study. Brigham Young University and LDS Hospital teamed up on this latest research.
And it was extensive. It shows that very short term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of heart attack in those who have coronary artery blockage.
Jeffrey Anderson, M.D., LDS Hospital Cardiologist: "What was sobering about this study is even one or two or three days of exposure can bring on a heart attack."
Dr Jeffrey Anderson, along with a team of LDS Hospital cardiologists and colleagues, joined epidemiological researcher Dr. Arden Pope at BYU to collect this latest data. It shows a four percent increased risk of a heart attack for every ten milligrams of air containing fine pieces of particulate or soot (less than one hundredths the width of a human hair).
Anderson: "That's small particulate. Now that sounds like a fairly small increase, but we, on a bad day, might have an increase of a hundred, so ten times that." These little fine pieces, suspended in heavier concentrations during inversions, pretty much all come from vehicles and industry. Dr. Arden Pope, BYU Epidemiological Research: "They're not generated by wind blown dust or anything like that. They're almost entirely from burning things or high temperature industrial processes."
Circulation is publishing the Utah study because the evidence is backed with big numbers. Dr. Benjamin Horne, LDS Hospital Public Health Research: "typical studies have hundreds. This one had thousands. We had about five to six-thousand individuals who were having unstable chest pain or heart attacks." Along with the five to six thousand LDS Hospital was specifically following, an additional eight thousand people came into the hospital electively on those bad air days. HORNE: "THIS IS A BIG PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE" More studies are yet to come. Researchers want to find out what the pollution-triggered inflammation mechanism really is that causes the problem. They also want to find ways to protect these people during inversions.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Groups sue Bush administration for suppressing global warming science
CLIMATE: Lawsuit accuses Bush admin of suppressing global warming assessment
Advocacy groups filed a lawsuit today aimed at forcing the Bush administration to produce an assessment of the effects of global warming and the state of climate science...
The administration's decision to follow its 2000 national assessment of climate science and consequences with a series of 21 staggered, narrowly defined reports violates the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the three groups said in their complaint.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The groups are asking the court to force the government -- through its Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy -- to produce a second national climate assessment.
Advocacy groups filed a lawsuit today aimed at forcing the Bush administration to produce an assessment of the effects of global warming and the state of climate science...
The administration's decision to follow its 2000 national assessment of climate science and consequences with a series of 21 staggered, narrowly defined reports violates the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the three groups said in their complaint.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The groups are asking the court to force the government -- through its Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy -- to produce a second national climate assessment.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Report for Tony Blair predicts big trouble on global warming
Address climate change or risk global depression: economist
Failure to tackle the problem of climate change could trigger a worldwide economic slowdown along the same level as the Great Depression, warns a new report from a British economist.
Written by former World Bank economist Sir Nicholas Stern at the request of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the 700-page report was released on Monday.
"Our actions over the coming decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century," says the report.
Failure to immediately tackle climate change could see global economic growth shrink by 20 per cent and cost the world economy close to $7 trillion US, warns Stern.
The report suggests other effects could include:
200 million new refugees as people are displaced by severe flooding or droughts.
Water shortages for one in six people.
A spike in world temperatures of up to 5 C.
Melting glaciers that could lead to water shortages.
20 to 40 per cent of wildlife species to become extinct.
More at http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/30/climate-cost.html
Failure to tackle the problem of climate change could trigger a worldwide economic slowdown along the same level as the Great Depression, warns a new report from a British economist.
Written by former World Bank economist Sir Nicholas Stern at the request of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the 700-page report was released on Monday.
"Our actions over the coming decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century," says the report.
Failure to immediately tackle climate change could see global economic growth shrink by 20 per cent and cost the world economy close to $7 trillion US, warns Stern.
The report suggests other effects could include:
200 million new refugees as people are displaced by severe flooding or droughts.
Water shortages for one in six people.
A spike in world temperatures of up to 5 C.
Melting glaciers that could lead to water shortages.
20 to 40 per cent of wildlife species to become extinct.
More at http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/30/climate-cost.html
Thursday, October 12, 2006
New study links traffic pollution to heart attacks
Pollution from automobile traffic is linked with a significantly increased risk of heart attacks, according to a study published Oct. 11
An increase in traffic near the home was associated with a 4 percent increase in the risk of having a heart attack, and living near a major road was associated with a 5 percent increase, according to the study by six Massachusetts researchers.
The study was published online in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The six researchers were from the Harvard School of Public Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and University of Massachusetts Medical School.
"We observed a significant association between exposure to traffic near the place of residence and the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction," the study said.
The research team analyzed the pollution levels near homes of 5,049 people in Worcester, Mass., who had heart attacks between 1995 and 2003 and compared that information to pollution of 10,277 people who did not have a heart attack.
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9587/9587.pdf
An increase in traffic near the home was associated with a 4 percent increase in the risk of having a heart attack, and living near a major road was associated with a 5 percent increase, according to the study by six Massachusetts researchers.
The study was published online in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The six researchers were from the Harvard School of Public Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and University of Massachusetts Medical School.
"We observed a significant association between exposure to traffic near the place of residence and the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction," the study said.
The research team analyzed the pollution levels near homes of 5,049 people in Worcester, Mass., who had heart attacks between 1995 and 2003 and compared that information to pollution of 10,277 people who did not have a heart attack.
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9587/9587.pdf
Thursday, September 14, 2006
NASA rings new global warming alarm bell; US has warmest summer since the Dust Bowl era
Two new NASA studies are raising alarm bells about global warming.
Scientists with the space agency have found that there is a decline in the amount of arctic sea ice in the winter. Their findings also show the decline is occurring at a faster rate.
Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 2006 was the warmest summer in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s -- and the second warmest since the record keeping began in 1895.
Scientists with the space agency have found that there is a decline in the amount of arctic sea ice in the winter. Their findings also show the decline is occurring at a faster rate.
Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 2006 was the warmest summer in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s -- and the second warmest since the record keeping began in 1895.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Scientists say global warming causing more violent hurricanes
A new study reports stronger links between human-caused global warming and rising ocean temperatures -- a key factor in the development and growth of hurricanes.
The new study was done by researchers at Lawrence Livermore lab in California.
''We've now learned that the human-induced buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere appears to be the primary driver of increasing hurricane activity,'' Robert Corell, an oceanographer and a researcher for the American Meteorological Society, said during a press conference to promote the study.
The findings were published Monday in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The new study was done by researchers at Lawrence Livermore lab in California.
''We've now learned that the human-induced buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere appears to be the primary driver of increasing hurricane activity,'' Robert Corell, an oceanographer and a researcher for the American Meteorological Society, said during a press conference to promote the study.
The findings were published Monday in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Heat-trapping emissions could be stored under the ocean
Conditions deep beneath the ocean floor are ripe for the permanent storage of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, according to research published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The new study -- conducted by researchers at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University -- raises the possibility of injecting the atmosphere's most abundant greenhouse gas at least 3,000 meters below sea level.
The new study -- conducted by researchers at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University -- raises the possibility of injecting the atmosphere's most abundant greenhouse gas at least 3,000 meters below sea level.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Outdoor Air Pollution Causes Infant Deaths
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/2/493?ct=ct
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 2 August 2006, pp. 493-502 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0027)
ARTICLE
Air Pollution and Infant Death in Southern California, 1989–2000 Beate Ritz, MD, PhDa,b, Michelle Wilhelm, PhDa,b and Yingxu Zhao, PhDa
a Department of Epidemiologyb Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California
OBJECTIVE. We evaluated the influence of outdoor air pollution on infant death in the South Coast Air Basin of California, an area characterized by some of the worst air quality in the United States.
METHODS. Linking birth and death certificates for infants who died between 1989 and 2000, we identified all infant deaths, matched 10 living control subjects to each case subject, and assigned the nearest air monitoring station to each birth address. For all subjects, we calculated average carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter exposures experienced during the 2-week, 1-month, 2-month, and 6-month periods before a case subject's death.
RESULTS. The risk of respiratory death increased from 20% to 36% per 1-ppm increase in average carbon monoxide levels 2 weeks before death in early infancy (age: 28 days to 3 months). We also estimated 7% to 12% risk increases for respiratory deaths per 10-µg/m3 increase in particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter exposure experienced 2 weeks before death for infants 4 to 12 months of age. Risk of respiratory death more than doubled for infants 7 to 12 months of age who were exposed to high average levels of particulates in the previous 6 months. Furthermore, the risk of dying as a result of sudden infant death syndrome increased 15% to 19% per 1-part per hundred million increase in average nitrogen dioxide levels 2 months before death. Low birth weight and preterm infants seemed to be more susceptible to air pollution-related death resulting from these causes; however, we lacked statistical power to confirm this heterogeneity with formal testing.
CONCLUSIONS. Our results add to the growing body of literature implicating air pollution in infant death from respiratory causes and sudden infant death syndrome and provide additional information for future risk assessment.
Key Words: air pollution • infant death • postneonatal death • epidemiology • respiratory death • sudden infant death syndrome • mortality
Abbreviations: PM10—particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter • SoCAB—South Coast Air Basin • CI—confidence interval • OR—odds ratio • SIDS—sudden infant death syndrome • ICD-9—International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision • ICD-10—International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision • pphm—parts per hundred million • O3—ozone • NO2—nitrogen dioxide • CO—carbon monoxide • LBW—low birth weight • SO2—sulfur dioxide • PM2.5—particulate matter <2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 2 August 2006, pp. 493-502 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0027)
ARTICLE
Air Pollution and Infant Death in Southern California, 1989–2000 Beate Ritz, MD, PhDa,b, Michelle Wilhelm, PhDa,b and Yingxu Zhao, PhDa
a Department of Epidemiologyb Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California
OBJECTIVE. We evaluated the influence of outdoor air pollution on infant death in the South Coast Air Basin of California, an area characterized by some of the worst air quality in the United States.
METHODS. Linking birth and death certificates for infants who died between 1989 and 2000, we identified all infant deaths, matched 10 living control subjects to each case subject, and assigned the nearest air monitoring station to each birth address. For all subjects, we calculated average carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter exposures experienced during the 2-week, 1-month, 2-month, and 6-month periods before a case subject's death.
RESULTS. The risk of respiratory death increased from 20% to 36% per 1-ppm increase in average carbon monoxide levels 2 weeks before death in early infancy (age: 28 days to 3 months). We also estimated 7% to 12% risk increases for respiratory deaths per 10-µg/m3 increase in particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter exposure experienced 2 weeks before death for infants 4 to 12 months of age. Risk of respiratory death more than doubled for infants 7 to 12 months of age who were exposed to high average levels of particulates in the previous 6 months. Furthermore, the risk of dying as a result of sudden infant death syndrome increased 15% to 19% per 1-part per hundred million increase in average nitrogen dioxide levels 2 months before death. Low birth weight and preterm infants seemed to be more susceptible to air pollution-related death resulting from these causes; however, we lacked statistical power to confirm this heterogeneity with formal testing.
CONCLUSIONS. Our results add to the growing body of literature implicating air pollution in infant death from respiratory causes and sudden infant death syndrome and provide additional information for future risk assessment.
Key Words: air pollution • infant death • postneonatal death • epidemiology • respiratory death • sudden infant death syndrome • mortality
Abbreviations: PM10—particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter • SoCAB—South Coast Air Basin • CI—confidence interval • OR—odds ratio • SIDS—sudden infant death syndrome • ICD-9—International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision • ICD-10—International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision • pphm—parts per hundred million • O3—ozone • NO2—nitrogen dioxide • CO—carbon monoxide • LBW—low birth weight • SO2—sulfur dioxide • PM2.5—particulate matter <2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
NY Times: mercury found in songbirds
Study of Songbirds Finds High Levels of Mercury
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: July 25, 2006
A biologist studying wild songbirds in New York State has found that all 178 woodland birds he tested last year had unusually high levels of mercury in their blood and feathers, a sign that the toxic chemical has spread farther in the environment than previously thought.
Tests on birds like this wood thrush found in the Catskills last year indicate that mercury may be a hazard in woods as well as in state waters.
The biologist, David C. Evers, who is also executive director of the Biodiversity Research Institute, a nonprofit ecological organization in Gorham, Me., said that his preliminary findings challenged existing perceptions about how far mercury travels, how it interacts with the environment and how it affects various forms of wildlife — all with worrisome implications for people.
While mercury has often been found in lakes and streams and in fish, Dr. Evers’s work documents the unexpected presence of the chemical in birds that do not live on water and never eat fish.
“Impacts on biological diversity usually show impacts on human health,” Dr. Evers said in a telephone interview. “If these birds are having trouble, that should be a very good indicator of a risk to our own well-being and health as well.”
Catherine H. Bowes, Northeast mercury program manager for the National Wildlife Federation, called the results of the songbird study “eye opening” and said they helped expand understanding of mercury contamination.
“It makes a compelling case for reducing mercury pollution from local sources, as New York is doing,” Ms. Bowes said.
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: July 25, 2006
A biologist studying wild songbirds in New York State has found that all 178 woodland birds he tested last year had unusually high levels of mercury in their blood and feathers, a sign that the toxic chemical has spread farther in the environment than previously thought.
Tests on birds like this wood thrush found in the Catskills last year indicate that mercury may be a hazard in woods as well as in state waters.
The biologist, David C. Evers, who is also executive director of the Biodiversity Research Institute, a nonprofit ecological organization in Gorham, Me., said that his preliminary findings challenged existing perceptions about how far mercury travels, how it interacts with the environment and how it affects various forms of wildlife — all with worrisome implications for people.
While mercury has often been found in lakes and streams and in fish, Dr. Evers’s work documents the unexpected presence of the chemical in birds that do not live on water and never eat fish.
“Impacts on biological diversity usually show impacts on human health,” Dr. Evers said in a telephone interview. “If these birds are having trouble, that should be a very good indicator of a risk to our own well-being and health as well.”
Catherine H. Bowes, Northeast mercury program manager for the National Wildlife Federation, called the results of the songbird study “eye opening” and said they helped expand understanding of mercury contamination.
“It makes a compelling case for reducing mercury pollution from local sources, as New York is doing,” Ms. Bowes said.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Gasp! Ozone Limits Don't Protect Babies
from SCIENCE NEWS
By Raloff, Janet ENVIRONMENT
In healthy infants, even ozone concentrations well below those allowed by federal law trigger asthmalike symptoms, a new study shows.
The finding indicates that federal limits on this pervasive pollutant, a prime constituent of smog, don't protect infants "from rather severe respiratory symptoms," says epidemiologist Elizabeth W. Triche of the Yale University School of Medicine.
Triche's team recruited 691 women with 3-to-5-month-old infants from nonsmoking households around Roanoke, Va. Sixty-one moms had asthma, signaling that their babies were at high risk for developing the disease.
The researchers collected daily respiratory data, as reported by the mothers, on all the children for 8.3 days in summer- the peak ozone season-and then correlated the infant's symptoms with outdoor measurements of several air pollutants. As ozone values climbed, so did the risk of wheezing and troubled breathing in the babies, Triches team reports in the June Environmental Health Perspectives.
The other pollutants, such as fine particulates. didn't show that correlation. For each 11.8 parts per billion (ppb) increase in average daily concentrations in ozone, the likelihood of wheezing increased by 41 percent in all the infants and 91 percent in those with asthmatic moms. Each 11.8 ppb increase in ozone also increased the risk of labored breathing by almost 30 percent for all kids and more than doubled it in babies with asthmatic moms.
These findings dovetail with those that Triche's group reported 3 years ago in 6-to-12-year-old children. The big difference: Those children had asthma. In the new infant study, she notes, "children were not asthmatic." -J.R.
By Raloff, Janet ENVIRONMENT
In healthy infants, even ozone concentrations well below those allowed by federal law trigger asthmalike symptoms, a new study shows.
The finding indicates that federal limits on this pervasive pollutant, a prime constituent of smog, don't protect infants "from rather severe respiratory symptoms," says epidemiologist Elizabeth W. Triche of the Yale University School of Medicine.
Triche's team recruited 691 women with 3-to-5-month-old infants from nonsmoking households around Roanoke, Va. Sixty-one moms had asthma, signaling that their babies were at high risk for developing the disease.
The researchers collected daily respiratory data, as reported by the mothers, on all the children for 8.3 days in summer- the peak ozone season-and then correlated the infant's symptoms with outdoor measurements of several air pollutants. As ozone values climbed, so did the risk of wheezing and troubled breathing in the babies, Triches team reports in the June Environmental Health Perspectives.
The other pollutants, such as fine particulates. didn't show that correlation. For each 11.8 parts per billion (ppb) increase in average daily concentrations in ozone, the likelihood of wheezing increased by 41 percent in all the infants and 91 percent in those with asthmatic moms. Each 11.8 ppb increase in ozone also increased the risk of labored breathing by almost 30 percent for all kids and more than doubled it in babies with asthmatic moms.
These findings dovetail with those that Triche's group reported 3 years ago in 6-to-12-year-old children. The big difference: Those children had asthma. In the new infant study, she notes, "children were not asthmatic." -J.R.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Global warming -- yes, it's real!
The list of doubters has gotten pretty short, and the National Research Council has weighed in: the last few decades have been the hottest in at least 400 years. -- and maybe a lot longer than that.
For more, see
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11676
Unfortunately, even the best scientific evidence doesn't seem to be enough to win over the professional political doubters, led by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX).
For more, see
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11676
Unfortunately, even the best scientific evidence doesn't seem to be enough to win over the professional political doubters, led by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX).
Monday, June 05, 2006
Another reason to worry about global warming: poison ivy!
Duke University researchers report that poison ivy grows bigger and faster as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise.
The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,Environmental Sciences-Biological SciencesBiomass and toxicity responses of poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) to elevated atmospheric CO2
( global change forest ecology Rhus radicans ) Jacqueline E. Mohan *, Lewis H. Ziska ¶, William H. Schlesinger *, Richard B. Thomas **, Richard C. Sicher ¶, Kate George ¶, and James S. Clark *
*Department of Biology and Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543; ¶Agricultural Research Service, Crop Systems, and Global Change Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705; and **Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506
Contributed by William H. Schlesinger, April 22, 2006
Contact with poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) is one of the most widely reported ailments at poison centers in the United States, and this plant has been introduced throughout the world, where it occurs with other allergenic members of the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Approximately 80% of humans develop dermatitis upon exposure to the carbon-based active compound, urushiol. It is not known how poison ivy might respond to increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), but previous work done in controlled growth chambers shows that other vines exhibit large growth enhancement from elevated CO2. Rising CO2 is potentially responsible for the increased vine abundance that is inhibiting forest regeneration and increasing tree mortality around the world. In this 6-year study at the Duke University Free-Air CO2 Enrichment experiment, we show that elevated atmospheric CO2 in an intact forest ecosystem increases photosynthesis, water use efficiency, growth, and population biomass of poison ivy. The CO2 growth stimulation exceeds that of most other woody species. Furthermore, high-CO2 plants produce a more allergenic form of urushiol. Our results indicate that Toxicodendron taxa will become more abundant and more "toxic" in the future, potentially affecting global forest dynamics and human health.
The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,Environmental Sciences-Biological SciencesBiomass and toxicity responses of poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) to elevated atmospheric CO2
( global change forest ecology Rhus radicans ) Jacqueline E. Mohan *, Lewis H. Ziska ¶, William H. Schlesinger *, Richard B. Thomas **, Richard C. Sicher ¶, Kate George ¶, and James S. Clark *
*Department of Biology and Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543; ¶Agricultural Research Service, Crop Systems, and Global Change Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705; and **Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506
Contributed by William H. Schlesinger, April 22, 2006
Contact with poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) is one of the most widely reported ailments at poison centers in the United States, and this plant has been introduced throughout the world, where it occurs with other allergenic members of the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Approximately 80% of humans develop dermatitis upon exposure to the carbon-based active compound, urushiol. It is not known how poison ivy might respond to increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), but previous work done in controlled growth chambers shows that other vines exhibit large growth enhancement from elevated CO2. Rising CO2 is potentially responsible for the increased vine abundance that is inhibiting forest regeneration and increasing tree mortality around the world. In this 6-year study at the Duke University Free-Air CO2 Enrichment experiment, we show that elevated atmospheric CO2 in an intact forest ecosystem increases photosynthesis, water use efficiency, growth, and population biomass of poison ivy. The CO2 growth stimulation exceeds that of most other woody species. Furthermore, high-CO2 plants produce a more allergenic form of urushiol. Our results indicate that Toxicodendron taxa will become more abundant and more "toxic" in the future, potentially affecting global forest dynamics and human health.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
NOAA Predicts Bad Hurricane Season Ahead
Warm sea temperatures cited...
SUMMARY
The outlook calls for a very active 2006 season, with 13-16 named storms, 8-10 hurricanes, and 4-6 major hurricanes. The likely range of the ACE index is 135%-205% of the median. This prediction indicates a continuation of above-normal activity that began in 1995. However, we do not currently expect a repeat of last year’s record season.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml
SUMMARY
The outlook calls for a very active 2006 season, with 13-16 named storms, 8-10 hurricanes, and 4-6 major hurricanes. The likely range of the ACE index is 135%-205% of the median. This prediction indicates a continuation of above-normal activity that began in 1995. However, we do not currently expect a repeat of last year’s record season.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
New research warns of danger from ultra-fine particles
from the Riverside Press-Enterprise Newspaper -- May 2, 2006
Tiny bits a big problemDeadliest pollution still unregulated
Andrew Silva, Staff writer
A whole new layer of regulations may be needed to deal with the tiniest and most dangerous bits of air pollution, as scientists released another study Monday showing children who live next to busy roads are twice as likely to have asthma symptoms.
"This is a major health issue," said John Froines, director of the Southern California Particle Center, during a conference in Los Angeles on ultrafine particles.
Ultrafine particles are unregulated, and are so small they can actually penetrate into cells, carrying toxic compounds right to a person's DNA and other critical areas.
As regulators struggle to scrub the air clean during a time of explosive growth in the diesel-powered shipping industry, scientists continue to warn that pollution from diesel sources is by far the most deadly. And the smaller the particle, the greater the danger.
"Ultrafines possess the greatest toxic potential compared to other particles," Froines said.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will begin an in-depth examination of ultrafine particles in its next air quality management plan this year, said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the region's smog-fighting agency.
Regulations to control the toxic flecks of pollution are expected to follow in the next few years.
The study on asthma and roads, published this month in the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives," looked at more than 5,000 children, ages 5 to 7, who live in 13 Southern California communities .
It found those who live within about 80 yards of a major road are 50 percent more likely to have had asthma symptoms in the previous year than those who live farther away.
The study dovetails with previous research showing concentrations of ultrafine particles are greatest near roadways and drop off dramatically with distance.
"Ultrafines may be the cause" of respiratory problems, said Rob McConnell, one of the study's authors and a professor at USC.
Restrictions are in place for larger particles, those 10 microns in diameter, or PM10, which is about one-seventh the diameter of a human hair, and the smaller PM2.5. A micron is one-millionth of a meter, or about the thickness of a dime sliced 1,000 times.
The regulations may be having a strange side effect.
Reductions in larger particles may actually spur an increase in the number of ultrafine particles, scientists said.
"Little particles attach to larger particles," Froines said. If you lower the number of big particles, there are fewer for the small particles to glom onto, he said.
That phenomenon has scientists calling for a change in the way particulates are measured.
Currently, particles are regulated by their mass, which is to say the particles in a cubic meter of air are basically weighed.
Instead, the particles should be counted, which is now being done in Europe.
Tiny bits a big problemDeadliest pollution still unregulated
Andrew Silva, Staff writer
A whole new layer of regulations may be needed to deal with the tiniest and most dangerous bits of air pollution, as scientists released another study Monday showing children who live next to busy roads are twice as likely to have asthma symptoms.
"This is a major health issue," said John Froines, director of the Southern California Particle Center, during a conference in Los Angeles on ultrafine particles.
Ultrafine particles are unregulated, and are so small they can actually penetrate into cells, carrying toxic compounds right to a person's DNA and other critical areas.
As regulators struggle to scrub the air clean during a time of explosive growth in the diesel-powered shipping industry, scientists continue to warn that pollution from diesel sources is by far the most deadly. And the smaller the particle, the greater the danger.
"Ultrafines possess the greatest toxic potential compared to other particles," Froines said.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will begin an in-depth examination of ultrafine particles in its next air quality management plan this year, said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the region's smog-fighting agency.
Regulations to control the toxic flecks of pollution are expected to follow in the next few years.
The study on asthma and roads, published this month in the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives," looked at more than 5,000 children, ages 5 to 7, who live in 13 Southern California communities .
It found those who live within about 80 yards of a major road are 50 percent more likely to have had asthma symptoms in the previous year than those who live farther away.
The study dovetails with previous research showing concentrations of ultrafine particles are greatest near roadways and drop off dramatically with distance.
"Ultrafines may be the cause" of respiratory problems, said Rob McConnell, one of the study's authors and a professor at USC.
Restrictions are in place for larger particles, those 10 microns in diameter, or PM10, which is about one-seventh the diameter of a human hair, and the smaller PM2.5. A micron is one-millionth of a meter, or about the thickness of a dime sliced 1,000 times.
The regulations may be having a strange side effect.
Reductions in larger particles may actually spur an increase in the number of ultrafine particles, scientists said.
"Little particles attach to larger particles," Froines said. If you lower the number of big particles, there are fewer for the small particles to glom onto, he said.
That phenomenon has scientists calling for a change in the way particulates are measured.
Currently, particles are regulated by their mass, which is to say the particles in a cubic meter of air are basically weighed.
Instead, the particles should be counted, which is now being done in Europe.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Global warming threatens walrus
We've heard about the threat global warming poses for polar bears. Now a new study says it could also threaten the walrus.
In a new study funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, scientists have reported an unprecedented number of unaccompanied and possibly abandoned walrus calves in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice may be forcing mothers to abandon their pups as the mothers follow the rapidly retreating ice edge north.
Nine lone walrus calves were reported swimming in deep waters far from shore by researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a cruise in the Canada Basin in the summer of 2004. Unable to forage for themselves, the calves were likely to drown or starve, the scientists said.
Lone walrus calves far from shore have not been described before, the researchers report in the April issue of Aquatic Mammals. The sightings suggest that increased polar warming may lead to decreases in the walrus population.
In a new study funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, scientists have reported an unprecedented number of unaccompanied and possibly abandoned walrus calves in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice may be forcing mothers to abandon their pups as the mothers follow the rapidly retreating ice edge north.
Nine lone walrus calves were reported swimming in deep waters far from shore by researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a cruise in the Canada Basin in the summer of 2004. Unable to forage for themselves, the calves were likely to drown or starve, the scientists said.
Lone walrus calves far from shore have not been described before, the researchers report in the April issue of Aquatic Mammals. The sightings suggest that increased polar warming may lead to decreases in the walrus population.
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