Does air pollution pose a public health problem for New Zealand?

Abstract

Air pollution is increasingly documented as a threat to public health and a major focus of regulatory activity in developed and developing countries. Air quality indicators suggest New Zealand has clean air relative to many other countries. However, media releases such as ‘Christchurch wood fires pump out deadly smog’ and ‘Vehicle pollution major killer’ have sparked public health concern regarding exposure to ambient air pollution, especially in anticipation of increasing emissions and population growth. Recent evidence is presented on the effects of air quality on health, which has been aided by the application of urban airshed models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Future directions for research into the effects of air quality on health in New Zealand are discussed, including a national ambient air quality management project: HAPINZ—Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand.

Geographical Information Systems and Health: Current State and Future Directions

“…Current examples of health GIS use in risk analysis include flood management [37], air pollution [33,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44], soil-borne infections [45], arsenic poisoning from ground water [46], climate change [47,48], ecosystem decline [49], pesticide exposure [50,51], and other environmental exposure assessments [52,53]. My Place History [54] developed by ESRI [55], the leading developer of GIS, provides a good example of how environmental exposures during your lifetime increases your risks of developing different diseases over time.…”

Air pollution in Australia: review of costs, sources and potential solutions

“…48 PM pollution causes an estimated 182 deaths per year. 1 Christchurch is phasing out wood heaters, except ultra-low emission models (<1g/kg fuel) that replace more polluting heaters. Elsewhere in New Zealand, if heaters are allowed, the emissions limit for installations on properties <2ha was reduced from 4 to 1.5g/kg.…”

“…There is widespread recognition that air pollution causes ill health. 1 To promote sustainable policies, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends quantifying environmental health effects and estimating their cost. 2 In Austria, France and Switzerland, particulate pollution was estimated to cause 40,000 premature deaths annually, about half attributable to motorised traffic.…”

“…9 Animal experiments and epidemiological studies show PM2.5 cause pulmonary inflammation, increasing the risk of ischemic heart disease, dysrhythmias, heart failure, and cardiac arrest. 10,11 Using the latest dose-response relationships, the Australian National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) estimated that, in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, PM2.5 pollution causes a total of 1,611 premature deaths annually (1,661 including bushfire events), with roughly double that for the entire country. 12 Thus estimated costs of PM2.5 pollution are now higher than estimates for all pollutants in the 1998 Air NEPM (PM10, particles <10 µm, 2,400 deaths costing $17.2 billion; CO, $6 million; NO 2 , $5 million; O 3 , $810 million; SO 2 , $1.4 million; Pb, $25-680 million).…”