In light of the EPA’s Air Quality Awareness Week – running from May 1 to 5, 2023 – we have created a series of blog articles that identify the main polluting gases and highlight the importance of implementing mitigation strategies, helping to protect the environment and deliver cleaner air for future generations. Today’s EPA’s campaign is focused on Wildfires and Smoke.
The EPA reported that the West and other parts of the U.S. have experienced significant forest fires in recent years. “These fires have been devastating to infrastructure, yet there is limited knowledge of the human health impacts of smoke emissions — both short term and long term. EPA is using its expertise in air quality research to fill the gaps in scientific information and to develop tools to prevent and reduce the impact of smoke from wildfires and controlled or prescribed burns.”
The publication Technology Networks previously published an article regarding the harmful medical effects of poor air quality. The air pollution has certainly improved dramatically since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its Clean Air Act regulations; but what people may not realize is that there are still reasons to be concerned.
The Act calls for states and the EPA to solve multiple air pollution problems through programs based on the latest science and technology information. According to the EPA website, “To protect public health and welfare nationwide, the Clean Air Act requires EPA to establish national ambient air quality standards for certain common and widespread pollutants based on the latest science. EPA has set air quality standards for six common “criteria pollutants”: particulate matter (also known as particle pollution), ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead.”
Since the time that the Clean Air Act was implemented, more people have been made aware of how hazardous and toxic air pollutants, acid rain, and chemical emissions from industrial plants can pose health threats. However, some don’t realize that natural events, such as the many wildfires we have seen in the Pacific Northwest, can be a concern as well. Just how detrimental is the particulate matter that results from the fire-raged areas to human health, and what is being done about it?
We have learned from our geographic neighbors just how harmful the particulates from fires can be. When smoke from nearby wildfires reached Mexico City (one of the world’s most populous megalopolises), Mexican authorities declared an environmental emergency, as the fires pushed pollution to levels deemed potentially harmful to human health. Environmental authorities advised residents to avoid outdoor activities and exercise and remain indoors with windows and doors shut. It called for especially sensitive groups, including infants, the elderly and sick, to stay at home.
The EPA warns that larger and more intense wildfires are creating the potential for greater smoke production and chronic exposures in the U.S., particularly in the West.
The effects of smoke from wildfires can range from eye and respiratory tract irritation to more serious disorders, including reduced lung function, bronchitis, exacerbation of asthma and heart failure, and premature death. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly are especially vulnerable to smoke exposure. Emissions from wildfires are known to cause increased visits to hospitals and clinics by those exposed to smoke.
Wildfire research is being conducted to advance understanding of the health effects from different types of fires as well as combustion phases. The EPA and other agencies are utilizing emissions data, air quality modeling, and health impact analyses from studies that are examining the air quality and public health impacts of smoke from prescribed fire compared to wildfires. Social sciences, phone apps, animal toxicology studies, and more traditional research methods and technologies are being used to help better understand the effects of wildfires.
Fortunately, most of us in the U.S. are protected by highly advanced air quality measurement instruments that serve as an early warning system for air quality danger. Read the article to learn about the five criteria that play some role in deciding where and how monitoring technology is used, and how the recent air quality emergencies caused by wildfires continue to demonstrate that vigilance to air quality monitoring is critically important to public health.
Read the article: The Harmful Effects of Poor Air Quality.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally written by Michael Loncar and published January 21, 2020, but has been updated.
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