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This tele-photo was taken on 3rd of Feb98 .. looking west at 10am from a boat at around 10km distance with a tele-lens (my little monocular in front of my Casio QY10). I enhanced the colours and contrast and now one can see the disaster, as one can see it with the naked eye. It nicely shows the brown haze over Auckland which is almost exclusively from private motor-car emissions. There was a slight breeze, and it was otherwise a nice summer's day. There were some german tourists on the boat, who were quite shocked to see the dirty air over Auckland, once it was pointed out to them. |
11.03.2002
Long-term exposure to the kind of air pollution common in many metropolitan areas increases the risk of death from lung cancer and other heart-lung diseases, a study has found.
The findings are based on 16 years of data from a US study in which thousands of people are participating.
It assessed the impact of exposure to fine particulates - particles small enough to penetrate the lungs - from vehicle exhausts and industry.
"The findings of this study provide the strongest evidence to date that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution common to many metropolitan areas is an important risk factor for cardiopulmonary mortality," researchers from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, said.
The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, included heart attack, stroke, asthma, pneumonia, and such things as emphysema and chronic bronchitis under the category of cardiopulmonary diseases.
"Elevated fine particulate air pollution exposures were associated with significant increases in lung cancer mortality," the researchers said.
Previous studies had been less conclusive about the long-term effects of fine particulate air pollution. The authors said they based their findings on data collected by the American Cancer Society on approximately 1.2 million US adults beginning in 1982.
- REUTERS http://nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=1190929