This important document replaces the 1980 Environmental Health Criteria No.12 – Noise. It is destined to become widely used and quoted in relation to environmental noise problems. All who have even a passing involvement in this area must become familiar with it and with its recommended levels. The Report considers noise sources and their measurement, adverse effects on health and noise management, whilst introducing a new set of recommendations and guideline values to take account of changes in knowledge and expectations over the past 20 years. Attention is drawn to inadequacies of equivalent level for intermittent noises, to the need to consider effects of low frequency noise and to the rights of vulnerable sub-groups. The Guide can be viewed in full on the World Health Organisation website – www.who.org

In this paper, recent reviews of the World Health Organization, other review papers, and more recent literature on the human health effects of current air pollution trends in urban areas are reviewed and summarized as follows: Sulphur dioxide. Some studies, but not others, found associations between sulphur dioxide (SO2) exposure and daily mortality and morbidity. Single-pollutant correlations sometimes disappeared when other pollutants, especially suspended particulate matter (SPM), were included. Cross-sectional studies with asthmatics revealed significant, non-threshold relations between SO2 and decrements of the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Nitrogen dioxide. Weak associations between short-term nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure from gas cooking and respiratory symptoms and a decrement in lung function parameters were found in children, but not consistently in exposed women. With long-term exposure, children, but not adults, exhibit increased respiratory symptoms, decreased lung function, and increased incidences of chronic cough, bronchitis, and conjunctivitis. A causal relationship between NO2 exposure and adverse health effects has not yet been established. Carbon monoxide. Binding of CO in the lungs with hemoglobin in the blood forms carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), which impairs the transport of oxygen. The health effects of CO include hypoxia, neurological deficits and neurobehavioral changes, and increases in daily mortality and hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases. The latter persists even at very low CO levels, indicating no threshold for the onset of these effects. Whether the relation between daily mortality and exposure to CO are causal or whether CO might act as a proxy for SPM is still an open question. Ambient CO may have even more serious health consequences than does COHb formation and at lower levels than that mediated through elevated COHb levels. Ozone. Short-term acute effects of O3 include pulmonary function decrements, increased airway responsiveness and airway inflammation, aggravation of pre-existing respiratory diseases like asthma, increases in daily hospital admissions and emergency department visits for respiratory causes, and excess mortality. Exposure-response relations are non-linear for the respective associations between O3 and FEV1, inflammatory changes, and changes in hospital admissions, whereas the relation between percent change in symptom exacerbation among adults and asthmatics is linear. Single-pollutant associations between O3 exposure and daily mortality and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases is statistically significant, even in multi-pollutant models. Suspended particulate matter. Associations between SPM concentrations and mortality and morbidity rates are significant. The acute health effects of SPM, even at short-term low levels of exposure, include increased daily mortality and hospital admission rates for exacerbation of respiratory disease, fluctuations in the prevalence of bronchodilator use, and cough and peak flow reductions, as...

The mandate of the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) is to promote a high level of scientific research concerning all aspects of noise-induced effects on human beings and animals. In this review, ICBEN team chairs and co-chairs summarize relevant findings, publications, developments, and policies related to the biological effects of noise, with a focus on the period 2011-2014 and for the following topics: Noise-induced hearing loss; nonauditory effects of noise; effects of noise on performance and behavior; effects of noise on sleep; community response to noise; and interactions with other agents and contextual factors. Occupational settings and transport have been identified as the most prominent sources of noise that affect health. These reviews demonstrate that noise is a prevalent and often underestimated threat for both auditory and nonauditory health and that strategies for the prevention of noise and its associated negative health consequences are needed to promote public health.

National response to air pollution (continued) Action plans. According to the deliberations during the Workshop on air quality in 2005 a national action plan is being elaborated and priorities set for the improvement of air quality. Fuel standards. Fuel specifications for lead-free petrol of research octane rating 91 (RON 91) are promulgated in Decree No 155/2006/MEM and shown in Table Madagascar_2 in Section 6. There are also fuel specifications for lead-free petrol of RON 95 (see Table Madagascar_3 in Section 6) and RON 87 (see Table Madagascar _4 in Section 6), promulgated in Decrees No. 24.538 and 24.540 as of 21.12.2004. At the same date fuel specifications for diesel were set in Decree No. 24.539 and are compiled in Table Madagascar_5 in Section 6. Emission standards. According to Decree No 6941/2000 the exhaust of diesel vehicles is controlled by measuring with an opacimeter (XR 743 NF) and that of petrol-driven vehicles with a gas analyser (XR 842), as approved by the government. The emission standards for diesel-driven vehicles are laid down in Table Madagascar_6 in Section 6; those for petrol-driven vehicles are laid down in Table Madagascar_7 in Section 6. Projects/Programmes. The Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Transport, the city of Antananarivo and the three offices are developing a study on the emissions of all sectors relevant in Antananarivo, i.e. transport sector, urban waste sector, industrial and manufacturing sector, and the energy sector. This study follows the frame of other similar studies that have been performed in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Cotonou (Benin), Dakar (Senegal), Douala (Cameroon) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) under the umbrella of the CAI-SSA.