More Cities in Asia Monitoring Tinier Polluting Particles
BANGKOK, THAILAND, November 14, 2008: Asian cities are increasingly monitoring tiny polluting particles known at PM 2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns, as more evidence emerges that the smaller particles pose more danger to health than the large particles.
PM 2.5 comes from combustion sources, including cars, industry, and charcoal burning, including roadside stalls preparing satay.
Many Asian cities have started to measure PM 2.5, and are developing regulations to control their emissions, said Jitendra Shah, the World Bank’s coordinator for Rural Environment and Social Development in Southeast Asia, at the Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2008.workshop in Bangkok.
Thailand is working on a national standard and has two stations to monitor PM 2.5, said Supat Wangwongwattana, director general of the Pollution Control Department. Indonesia has a draft that proposes a national standard, and monitoring stations are operating in Jakarta, Bandung and other cities, said Linda Krisnawati of Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment.
The World Bank’s Mr. Shah said scientists now urge the monitoring of nanoparticles much smaller than 2.5 microns that are regarded as more health-endangering. PM 1, for example, is contained in emission from virtually all vehicle engines.
Dr. Mathuros Ruchirawat, vice president of the Chulabhorn Institute, provided an institute study on particles much smaller than PM 2.5 -- such as PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The report also found that traffic policemen and street vendors are highly exposed to three carcinogenic pollutants, PAHs, benzene, and 1,3 butadiene.
Peter Anyon, of MAHA, or Maschinenbau Haldenwang GmbH & Co. KG, said these finer polluting particles “can go down into the deepest parts of the lung and even through lung tissue into the bloodstream where they can cause cancers, heart disease, and general respiratory problems.”
Particulates are the pollutants of most concern in urban areas. Other pollutants include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Emphasizing the gravity of the problem, Mr. Anyon said a World Health Organization study recently found that the social costs of exposure to particles – including health costs and productivity losses -- to the European Union was more than US$150 billion per year.
“The population density in Asia is very high, and the exposure rate is high. I can imagine the cost here is at least as much,” Mr. Anyon noted.
Particulate matter used to be measured in a laboratory through an expensive process.
Nowadays, smaller measuring devices are widely available, some portable, some electric-powered.
For example, MAHA has developed a device to measure the concentration of these particles that is low-cost, simple to use, and the size of a shoe box. “ It allows us to measure the fine particles with the same level of accuracy as in a laboratory,” said Mr. Anyon.
“ We fire a laser and when the laser hits particles, it scatters light. We measure the light that’s scattered from the particles,” he said. The device electronically calculates the weight of the particles from the light.
The device can measure particles from PM10 – which comes from non-combustion sources such as road dust and cement dust -- to PM 2.5 and PM 1 and down to PM 0.1, Mr Anyon said. It is currently being evaluated by 50-60 government laboratories and universities in Europe, the US, and Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
“Having a reliable way to measure particulate matter from two- and three-wheelers, which are an important source of fine particulate matter, will enable us to lobby for the development of a particulate matter emission standard for two- and three-wheelers, which in many Asian cities are the most popular form of transport,” said Cornie Huizenga, the executive director of the CAI-Asia Center.
Media enquiries:
Anuraj Manibhandu, media@cai-asia.org
