Rapid impacts of air pollution on brain, study suggests

The below Jan. 24, 2023 press release* is from the University of British Columbia. First-in-the-world study suggests that even brief exposure to air pollution has rapid impacts on the brain. A new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria has shown that common levels of traffic pollution can … Read more

Consultancy to help European Commission in effort to cut air-pollution-related disease, death across the EU

The below Nov. 15, 2022 press release* is from Ricardo. Ricardo’s world-leading expertise in air quality policy, management and economics has guided the European Commission’s revision of the key European air quality legislation to protect human health and the environment. Ricardo, a global strategic environmental and engineering consulting company, has significantly contributed to the European … Read more

Manufacturing’s, energy’s, transport’s environmental records: They could be better

If you’re looking at today’s environmental landscape as a gauge, a measure, a yardstick and are contemplating whether or not it is where it needs to or should be, the answer is: no; the environment is not where it could or should be. That’s the reality. Environmental stewardship the name of the game It’s all … Read more

EPA proposes strengthening fine-particle standards to reduce risk to health from airborne soot

The below Jan. 6, 2023 press release* is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a proposal to strengthen a key national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5, to better protect communities, including those most overburdened by pollution. Fine particles, … Read more

EPA finalizes strongest national clean-air standards to lower by 80+% soot, smog emissions in trucks, buses

The below Dec. 20, 2022 press release* is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the strongest-ever national clean air standards to cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks beginning with model year 2027. The new standards, which is the first update to clean air standards for … Read more

Lung cancer in non-smokers: Air pollution a possible trigger, scientists discover

The below Sept. 10, 2022 press release is from the European Society for Medical Oncology.* A new mechanism has been identified through which very small pollutant particles in the air may trigger lung cancer in people who have never smoked, paving the way to new prevention approaches and development of therapies, according to late-breaking data … Read more

Air pollution: Coming to terms with what’s acceptable, what isn’t

It is safe to say there will never be such thing as zero polluted air. Even Mother Nature adds her own share: Think dust storms, volcanic eruptions and lightning strikes. With this knowledge, what amount of pollution in the air, then, is acceptable? To try to provide an answer, that would seem to be contingent … Read more

Extreme Sept. heat tests grid, degrades air in San Joaquin Valley

For those who don’t know, California’s approximately 300-mile-long by roughly 80-mile-wide San Joaquin Valley has some of America’s worst air quality. For the past 20 years or so, such Valley cities as Bakersfield, Fresno, Hanford, Madera and Visalia, for example, have consistently ranked among those places in the United States with the highest amounts of … Read more