Enough NOx: to save our lives we must change the way we move
Environment — di Rosy Battaglia
To reduce air pollution and protect health, we need sustainable transport for ourselves and for the environment. So says epidemiologist Carla Ancona.
Enough NOx: to save our lives we must change the way we move
To reduce air pollution and protect health, we need sustainable transport for ourselves and for the environment. So says epidemiologist Carla Ancona.
One of the very few positive effects triggered by the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic was the drop — above all in the Po Valley — in many atmospheric pollutants, including the dreaded NOx, the nitrogen oxides produced by the combustion of car and lorry engines. This acronym generically covers both nitric oxide, NO, and nitrogen dioxide, NO2. The latter — a brown gas with an acrid, pungent smell — is the most dangerous to human health, being highly irritating to the respiratory system. So much so that it alters lung function, triggering chronic bronchitis, asthma and pulmonary emphysema.
According to data recorded by regional environmental agencies, the halt in mobility caused NOx levels in the air to fall by 40 per cent. A significant figure for public health. Together with fine particulate matter — already classified as carcinogenic by the IARC — and tropospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is in fact responsible for the premature death of at least 76,200 people in Italy every year.
This is how the mobility shutdown proved to be an unexpected relief for the lungs of those living in chronically polluted areas such as Lombardy — a region also afflicted, perhaps not by chance, by coronavirus. "The satellite images from recent months anticipated a more complex reality, one also shaped by meteorological factors. But one thing is certain: the collapse of vehicular traffic reduced the presence of NOx in the air," Carla Ancona, environmental epidemiologist at the Department of Epidemiology of the Lazio Region, tells LifeGate. Levels that began to rise again when restrictions were lifted during the month of May, as images from the Copernicus satellite have already revealed.
Three images for #Italy: before, during and after the lockdown! The average of N02 in February, April and May, captured by #Copernicus #Sentinel5P for the national broadcast @RaiUno @Unomattina, with @ClaudiaAdamo and @BistiValentina #Covid19 @CleanAirLondon #AirQuality
Without traffic, NOx levels in the air collapse
The results of the very recent Life PrepAir analysis on air quality in the Po basin during the weeks of the coronavirus emergency amply confirm this. According to data provided by the Arpa agencies of Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, the reduction in private and commercial traffic flows caused nitrogen oxides (NOx) to fall by 30–40 per cent and PM10 by between 7 and 14 per cent.
"In the latter case, it must be remembered," Carla Ancona points out, "that the reductions in vehicle circulation were offset by emissions from heating systems instead." The only emissions that did not decrease were those of ammonia from intensive farming and livestock activities, which were unaffected by the lockdown.
When the air is unhealthy, acute conditions increase among children and the elderly
In the meantime, Carla Ancona stresses that "national and international studies on short-term effects, such as the EpiAir project, or long-term effects, such as the Escape project, show that people die from air pollution — we do not need any further scientific evidence. In the immediate term, breathing polluted air, coinciding with increases in road traffic, leads to a surge in accident and emergency admissions." Among those worst affected, the expert reiterates, are the most vulnerable: children suffering asthma attacks and elderly people with worsening respiratory conditions. And among the effects linked to pollution peaks is also acute myocardial infarction.
And in the long term the repercussions are even more serious. "Studies on exposure to nitrogen dioxide, including among the population of Rome, have quantified the increase in natural mortality, in conditions affecting the cardiorespiratory system, and in cancers," the epidemiologist reiterates. So what should be done now, in the post-Covid phase? According to data from the Life-PreAir report, in Milan alone and across the Po Valley, the reduction in vehicle circulation in March 2020 reached 80 per cent for private cars and 50–60 per cent for commercial and heavy goods vehicles. But now, driven by social and economic needs, everything has returned to how it was before.
People are dying, say the epidemiologists
"It is certainly a complex moment, made worse by the health emergency caused by Covid-19, but it is precisely for this reason that we have no choice but to change our mobility system," Ancona stresses. As epidemiologists such as Fabrizio Bianchi and Francesco Forastiere had already warned LifeGate in recent months, action must be taken in this direction to limit further damage to public health.
"Let's start with bicycles that can be used on safe cycle lanes," the epidemiologist explains. Through to hybrid or electric, low-emission cars, especially in large cities. "Or even going back to travelling on foot for short distances. In Rome, 50 per cent of car journeys take place within a 5 km radius." As documented by an epidemiological study of the Rome area, air pollution can also have other serious consequences, again for the youngest: high concentrations of NOx from road traffic have an impact on children's cognitive disorders.
The mobility system must change: the Gse research group agrees
Meanwhile, last May the energy system research group of Gse — the wholly state-owned company under the Ministry of Economic Development responsible for energy — sought to quantify the effects of the lockdown on air quality in Milan and Lombardy. The authors of the report also confirm that during the weeks of strictest restrictions, the halt in motor vehicles allowed a dramatic reduction in NOx (NO2) concentrations to be observed, amounting to at least 30 per cent — approximately 20 μg per cubic metre. Without any doubt, the experts state, "significant improvement in air quality is achieved through very significant reductions in road emissions." To achieve this, it is therefore necessary to "promote flexible working policies and facilitate access to services by encouraging digitalisation." By favouring travel on foot and by bicycle, car sharing and the use of public transport. A further benefit would likewise come from replacing vehicles currently on the road with low-environmental-impact ones.
#ImageOfTheDay #UnitedAgainstCoronavirus
After the #lockdown we continue to #lookdown
What does the future hold?
#NewNormal or #BackToThePast?
Look at the Nitrogen dioxide #NO2 levels measured by #Sentinel5P 🇪🇺🛰️ in northern Italy over the past 3 months and judge by yourself
After the #lockdown we continue to #lookdown
What does the future hold?
#NewNormal or #BackToThePast?
Look at the Nitrogen dioxide #NO2 levels measured by #Sentinel5P 🇪🇺🛰️ in northern Italy over the past 3 months and judge by yourself
Did smog favour Covid-19? The Pulvirus study gets under way
Meanwhile, in the regions of the Po Valley, where the effects of the pandemic have been greatest, a research group is already at work – again in collaboration with the network of the European Life Prepair Project – to assess the much-debated link between air pollution and the pandemic. It is called Pulvirus and is promoted by the Istituto superiore di sanità, ISPRA, the Sistema nazionale protezione ambientale and Enea. The study focuses on the physical, chemical and biological interactions between fine particulate matter and viruses, and on the effects of lockdown on air pollution and greenhouse gases.
Legame tra #inquinamento atmosferico e #Covid19: il progetto #Pulvirus. Ne parla il presidente dell’ #ISPRA #StefanoLaporta a #BuongiornoRegione.👇