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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/04/australia-air-pollution-socioeconomic-disadvantage-local-government-areas-suburbs-hotspots>
"Kerry-Ann Weirick’s asthma took a turn for the worse when she moved to the
western Sydney suburb of St Marys.
“I was going to hospital two or three times a year with really bad breathing
problems,” she says.
Weirick’s new place was near the Light Horse interchange, where several main
roads cross, including the M4 and M7 motorways.
“From a pollution perspective … it was particularly bad between 7.30am and 9am
and probably 3pm to 6pm when most people are commuting in and out of Sydney,”
she says. “The traffic was a nightmare.”
Weirick was no stranger to pollution-related asthma problems. As a student, she
had been more prone to attacks while commuting in Sydney’s now obsolete red
rattler trains, which had open windows.
“As you were moving along, the pollen and dust would come in, and you used to
get soot in your eyes,” she says. “Doctors put it down to exercise-induced
asthma because I was moving a lot, but we later found out it was pollution
causing my breathing problems.”
People with asthma are “the canary in the coalmine” for air pollution, says
Michele Goldman, the chief executive of Asthma Australia. “If you’re in an area
where there is air pollution, a person with asthma is going to have symptoms …
and it’s quite explicit that the air quality’s bad. Whereas with cardiovascular
disease, with cancers, with other diseases where air pollution is a
contributing factor – they might only manifest years or decades down the
track.”
Air pollution has been linked directly to myriad health problems, both as a
result of short periods of high pollution – acute exposure – and chronic
exposure to lower levels over time. There is no safe level of exposure, experts
say."
Another thing electrification is really going to improve.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
