Cutting car emissions saves lives

by Donovan Vincent - city hall bureau

A new study on the health effects of air pollution from traffic in Toronto says a 30 per cent reduction in vehicle emissions could save nearly 200 lives a year and $1 billion in health costs.

The Toronto Public Health report, to be released Monday, also estimates that "mortality-related'' costs associated with traffic pollution in the city are about $2.2 billion annually.
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Authored by Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical officer of health, the study claims this pollution contributes to about 440 premature deaths and 1,700 hospitalizations a year in Toronto.
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"When I was growing up, around 35 years ago, maybe one or two children I knew had asthma. Now it's normal to see kids with (inhalers),'' he said, adding he hadn't read the health department report, but had a rough idea of its findings.

The report says pollution from traffic leads to about 200,000 restricted-activity days per year, where people spend the day sick in bed, or curtail their usual activities.
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"Given there is a finite amount of public space in the city for all modes of transportation, there is a need to reassess how road space can be used more effectively to enable the shift to more sustainable transportation modes," it says.

This isn't the first time a link has been made between vehicle exhaust and health problems. A study out of the University of California at Los Angeles this summer was the first to expose a direct link between vehicle exhaust and hardening of the arteries. In particular, the study showed that diesel exhaust combined with blood cholesterol can create a "dangerous synergy" that "wreaks cardiovascular havoc."

The study showed how microscopic pollution particles can combine with artery-clogging fats to switch on genes that inflame the blood vessels and lead to arteriosclerosis