{"id":13380,"date":"2019-02-26T08:21:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T08:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=13380"},"modified":"2019-02-26T08:21:11","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T08:21:11","slug":"air-pollution-is-the-new-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=13380","title":{"rendered":"Air pollution is “the new tobacco…\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Air pollution causes 1 in 9 deaths worldwide<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Air pollution is “the new tobacco…\u201d said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO\u2019s Director-General<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The World Health Organisation states that air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.\u00a0Air pollution is an invisible killer that lurks all around us, slipping unnoticed past our body’s defenses, causing deaths from heart attack, strokes, lung disease and cancer.<\/p>\n

The first WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health<\/a> took place in Geneva from 30th October to 1st November 2018. It was the first-ever global event to focus on both air pollution and health and concluded with a proposal to reduce the number of deaths from air pollution by two thirds by 2030.<\/p>\n

Ambient (outdoor)\u00a0air pollution<\/h3>\n

This is a major threat to health and climate, which according to WHO, accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths per year.<\/p>\n

“Around 91% of the world\u2019s population lives in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits. While ambient air pollution affects developed and developing countries alike, low- and middle-income countries experience the highest burden, with the greatest toll in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions.” – from WHO<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

You can also download the report “Evolution of WHO air quality guidelines: past, present and future (2017)”\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0This summarises key WHO publications in the field of air quality and health since the 1950s, which led to the development of the series of WHO air quality guidelines.<\/p>\n

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Photo by AJ Nakasone on <\/span>Pexels.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An Air Quality Index<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

An\u00a0air quality index\u00a0(AQI) is a number used by government agencies to tell the public how\u00a0polluted\u00a0their air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0As the AQI increases, an increasingly large percentage of the population is likely to experience increasingly severe adverse health effects. Different countries have their own air quality indices, corresponding to different national air quality standards.<\/p>\n

United Kingdom<\/h3>\n

The air quality index in the UK is the\u00a0Daily Air Quality Index<\/a>\u00a0recommended by the\u00a0Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants.<\/sup>\u00a0This index has ten points, which are further grouped into 4 bands: low, moderate, high and very high. Each of the bands comes with advice for at-risk groups and the general population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Air pollution banding<\/th>\nValue<\/th>\nHealth messages for At-risk individuals<\/th>\nHealth messages for General population<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Low<\/td>\n1\u20133<\/td>\nEnjoy your usual outdoor activities.<\/td>\nEnjoy your usual outdoor activities.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Moderate<\/td>\n4\u20136<\/td>\nAdults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, who experience symptoms, should consider reducing strenuous physical activity, particularly outdoors.<\/td>\nEnjoy your usual outdoor activities.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
High<\/td>\n7\u20139<\/td>\nAdults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, should reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors, and particularly if they experience symptoms. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often. Older people should also reduce physical exertion.<\/td>\nAnyone experiencing discomfort such as sore eyes, cough or sore throat should consider reducing activity, particularly outdoors.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Very High<\/td>\n10<\/td>\nAdults and children with lung problems, adults with heart problems, and older people, should avoid strenuous physical activity. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often.<\/td>\nReduce physical exertion, particularly outdoors, especially if you experience symptoms such as cough or sore throat.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

United States<\/span><\/h3>\n

The\u00a0United States Environmental Protection Agency\u00a0<\/a>(EPA) Air Quality Index is divided into six categories indicating increasing levels of health concern. An AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality and below 50 the air quality is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Air Quality Index (AQI) Values<\/b><\/td>\nLevels of Health Concern<\/b><\/td>\nColors<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0 to 50<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nGreen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
51 to 100<\/td>\nModerate<\/td>\nYellow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
101 to 150<\/td>\nUnhealthy for Sensitive Groups<\/td>\nOrange<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
151 to 200<\/td>\nUnhealthy<\/td>\nRed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
201 to 300<\/td>\nVery Unhealthy<\/td>\nPurple<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
301 to 500<\/td>\nHazardous<\/td>\nMaroon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Air Quality Index Color Code Guide<\/h3>\n

The\u00a0United States Department of Agriculture\u00a0Forest Service has produced a chart showing the weather conditions associated with the different levels of air quality, plus the possible health effects and their recommended actions. This chart <\/a>shows the common\u00a0weather conditions associated with the respective air quality levels.<\/p>\n

World’s Air Pollution:\u00a0<\/span>Real-time Air Quality Index<\/span><\/h3>\n

A website allowing government agencies anywhere in the world to submit their real-time air monitoring data for display using a common definition of the air quality index is available at\u00a0http:\/\/waqi.info\/<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0World Air Quality Index\u00a0project is a non-profit project started in 2007. Its mission is to promote Air Pollution awareness for citizens and provide a unified and world-wide Air Quality information.<\/p>\n

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Photo by AJ Nakasone on Pexels.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Air pollution causes 1 in 9 deaths worldwide Air pollution is “the new tobacco…\u201d said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO\u2019s Director-General The World Health Organisation states that air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.\u00a0Air pollution … More Air pollution is “the new tobacco…\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[673,178,628,2],"tags":[745,174,176,746,182,747],"class_list":["post-13380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discover","category-health","category-science","category-travel","tag-air-pollution","tag-air-quality-index","tag-daily-air-quality-index","tag-environmental-protection-agency-epa","tag-world-air-quality-index","tag-world-health-organisation"],"yoast_head":"\nAir pollution is "the new tobacco...\u201d - City Adventurers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=13380\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Air pollution is "the new tobacco...\u201d - City Adventurers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Air pollution causes 1 in 9 deaths worldwide Air pollution is “the new tobacco…\u201d said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO\u2019s Director-General The World Health Organisation states that air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year. 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