The new API

The most important news from the meeting is that EPD and 3 universities were working together on research about new API, and there is hope that the new API will be formulated within this year. The new API will be use the Canadian system as a reference, which is a combination of health impacts and air pollutants.

The research is led by Professor Wong Tze Wai from Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Alexis K H Lau from HKUST is also assisting with the research. The research aims at comparing different API systems in different countries and seeks to choose the best one for Hong Kong. The professors believe that the Canadian system is the one most suited for Hong Kong, as the API there considers the relationship between hospital days and air pollution. It shows that the government pays attention to how air pollution affects people’s health.

Hopefully the research report will be finished within this year. Cyd Ho thinks that the EPD should show the report to the public, and the report should be comparable with the WHO guidelines. Also clear instructions should be made under different warnings, for example, the guideline to asking students to halt school activities or asking workers to stop outdoor work.

The SCR system on old buses

The second main focus of the meeting is about the replacement of old buses. The EPD suggested that it is not an easy task for the bus companies to replace all the dirty buses on the road. As there will only be 2,100 EURO II buses on the road (all pre-EURO and EURO I buses will be retired before 2015), the government suggested using PM filters and an SCR system in EURO II and EURO III buses instead of replacing them. The government suggested that an SCR system and PM filter can reduce the emission levels of EURO II buses to the level of EURO IV buses.

Experts in SCR technology will visit Hong Kong and conduct a meeting with officials in September 2010; they think that the trial for SCRs in buses can be started next year (2011).

Other measures

The third point is about a different environmental protection measure. Lau Kin Yee visited Jiangsu months ago and she was impressed by the green construction going on there. Many buildings in Jiangsu are facilitated with solar energy devices, even the street lamps. Lau suggested the government do the same in Hong Kong and introduce more green technology to the city.

Besides that, the amount of emissions from the electric power generation plants in Hong Kong is large. Therefore the councilor is concerned about fuel use in those plants. Carlson Chan stated that there is underutilization of natural gas electricity generators. This is because Hong Kong lacks a source of natural gas. However, the construction of channels of natural gas will be finished in 2013, and the channels can bring along the natural gas coming from Mainland China. It can increase the electricity generated by natural gas from 20% to 50%.

Electricity vehicles were also another point of discussion. The councilors questioned the passion and commitment of the government to promoting electricity vehicles/motorbikes. They urged the government to do more on that end.

Conclusion

We cannot comment on the new API at this moment, as we have no idea of how it is being calculated. However, we are looking forward to this index as it is related to health standard.

However we are not satisfied with the bus replacement measure. We think that SCR system is not good enough to reduce pollutants. According to bus manufacture, if the EURO II engine with additional device is as good as EURO IV engine, then it is meaningless to do research on a new engine. Therefore we still support the replacement of the old buses with EURO IV standard or even replacing the old buses with hybrid buses.

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20 July, 2010

Today, the Hong Kong medical profession
(The Hong Kong Paediatric Society, The Hong Kong Geriatric Society,
The Hong Kong Asthma Society, The Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Respirology, The Hong Kong Paediatric Nurses Association and Hong Kong Doctors Union)
issued a bold and unprecedented letter to the Government, calling for immediate protection of public health against air pollution.

With tomorrow’s LegCo session on the anti-idling bill being the occasion for the issuance of the letter, the letter pointed out that even though the idling bill is NOT the answer to our pollution problem, it is an “important initial step”. Moreover, “any excessive exemption or delay would just prolong the exposure our people to the health risk caused by vehicular emission.”

In closing, the letter exhorts the government (and all of us) to stop wasting time, “We believe it is time for Legislative Council, the Government and all sectors of the community to show commitment to move on with this legislation and to act on all other pollution combating measures urgently and simultaneously. Our public, adult and children alike, deserve no less.”

Joanne Ooi, CEO of Clean Air Network, said, “We applaud the medical community for raising its voice finally on the air pollution issue. After all, air pollution is more a public health, rather than environmental, crisis than anything else. Next, the outspoken response of the medical community fills a crucial void: Since the Department of Health is not formally involved in air quality policy or warnings, Hong Kong’s biggest public health crisis has been allowed to persist far longer than would have been allowed under the vigilant gaze of medical professionals. It is downright irresponsible that the Government has not called on medical professionals to weigh in on a public health problem which kills more than 1000 people a year.”

The full letter is below.
———————————————————————————————————————————————

Open Letter to the Legislative Council’s Bill Committee on Motor Vehicle Idling ( Fixed Penalty) Bill

20th July 2010

Dear Legislative Council Members,

As representatives of Hong Kong medical practitioners, we feel an imminent need to step up all measures that could bring about an immediate improvement to our air quality. We are worried that the hesitation shown in the recent debate on introducing the legislation to ban idling engine might cause further delay to the passage of this long awaited Bill which is needed to protect our people, be they elderly and children, pedestrians and drivers, from hazardous vehicular emission.

Hong Kong prides itself as a modern city with a reputable record of strong health and medical care. We see it part and parcel of our health care and environmental policy to ensure our people would not suffer from polluting emissions especially those that could have been avoided by progressive environmental policies and collective behavioral changes that commensurate with our state of economic development. Emission from idling engine is but one of these pollutants that could be eliminated if there are sufficient commitment from the Government, Legislative Council and support and consensus from the community at large.

Numerous studies and surveys including a well publicized one done by HKUST recently clearly demonstrated that a very high level of air pollution prevails in our densely populated urban areas where the bulk of our population patronize every day, as they work, live, learn and play. Our people, aged and young in particular, would have no choice but continue to inhale polluting air and are extensively exposed to an increasingly high risk of brain, respiratory and heart diseases as a result of deteriorating air quality.

While we continue to urge the Government to do its utmost in bringing about a full and comprehensive package of measures to further reduce all these pollution hazards from industry, energy and transportation sources, we consider the idling engine bill an important initial step to reduce emission that could have been substantially eliminated. Scientific overseas and Chinese studies have already confirmed traffic emission is a major cause of street level air pollution in busy cities (like Hong Kong). As young children are short and breathing at a lower level close to that of the vehicle exhaustion pipe, “Hong Kong Children”, would be the major victims of street level air pollution. We call for the society, including drivers and passengers, pedestrians and car users, to adopt the norm that vehicles should have their engine switched off when they wait idly on the street, save limited exemptions to suit very restrained operational requirements.

As medical practitioners, we seek to protect the health of all citizens including both people on the street and those behind the driving wheel. We firmly believe that emissions from idling engines are damaging the health of all street users both within and outside the vehicles.

We recognize that to make the scheme a success, we need to bring about collective behavioral changes and the introduction of the long debated Bill is just a small but crucial step towards this goal. Any excessive exemption or delay would just prolong the exposure our people to the health risk caused by vehicular emission.

We believe it is time for Legislative Council, the Government and all sectors of the community to show commitment to move on with this legislation and to act on all other pollution combating measures urgently and simultaneously. Our public, adult and children alike, deserve no less.

Yours faithfully,
The Hong Kong Paediatric Society
The Hong Kong Geriatric Society
The Hong Kong Asthma Society
The Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Respirology
The Hong Kong Paediatric Nurses Association
Hong Kong Doctors Union
Dr. Chan Yee Shing (Paediatrician, Vice-President, Hong Kong Medical Association)
Dr. Chow Chun Bong (Hong Kong Early Childhood Development Research Foundation)
Dr. Kong Ming Hei, Bernard (Geriatrician, President, Hong Kong Geriatric Society)
Dr. Tam, Alfred (Paediatrician, President, Hong Kong Asthma Society)
Dr. Yu Chak Man ( Paediatrician, Immediate past president, Hong Kong Paediatric Society)
Ms. Susanna Lee (President, The Hong Kong Paediatric Nurses Association)
Dr. Henry Yeung Chiu Fat (Paediatrician, President, Hong Kong Doctors Union)

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The timing of the bill to ban idling engines could not be worse. In July last year, the Hong Kong government announced its intention to overhaul the city’s air quality objectives – non-binding caps on the levels of seven air pollutants. To meet the new targets, the government commissioned the engineering firm Arup to come up with a package of abatement measures. These 19 measures do not include the anti-idling ban. What they do include are suggestions to use more natural gas and less coal to generate our electricity, hasten the replacement of the city’s oldest commercial diesel vehicles and create low-emission zones.

Unlike these 19 measures, the anti-idling bill will not appreciably reduce roadside pollution, while it asks for major sacrifices from the public. Despite its laudable goal of seeking to reform attitudes towards the environment, the anti-idling bill is quite possibly the weakest and most contentious piece of environmental legislation ever put forward by the government. Besides the humanitarian concerns of heat and extreme weather, underscored by the death of an 81-year-old minibus driver early this month, the bill fails to spell out its targets for major, quantifiable emissions reduction.

It is hardly surprising, then, that legislators are fighting the bill. In May, the Legislative Council unanimously passed a non-binding motion to improve air quality. The motion was notable for not including support for a ban on idling engines, bus route rationalisation or higher licence fees. Instead, the motion called for funding support to bus companies to replace or scrap those buses whose emissions were far in excess of European emission standards. Legislators also proposed using incentives – such as a subsidy – to get owners to scrap their pre-Euro, Euro I and Euro II vehicles rather than replace them with new ones.

In light of the motion and Legco’s history of approving subsidies, it’s reasonable to assume that transport subsidies to clean up the air would meet with the overwhelming approval of all political parties, including populist ones. If one thing is certain, it is that all parties seek to defray the cost of improved air through subsidies rather than increased fares for passengers and consumers. With Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves of half a trillion dollars, could a better use of money be imagined – especially since the worst victims of air pollution are the working poor?

But instead of introducing the measures most urgently needed, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and non-governmental organisations such as ours are dealing with the public relations catastrophe triggered by the anti-idling proposal. All the more is the pity since, in the wake of the dust storm in March, the public has been clamouring loudly for more decisive government action. A Gallup poll on air pollution that month found that, of residents surveyed in 153 cities around the globe, Hong Kong’s residents were the most dissatisfied with their air – 70 per cent of respondents. Given this unprecedented public support for clean air, it is almost painful to watch the EPD and Edward Yau Tang-wah, the environment secretary, deplete valuable political capital to win a pyrrhic victory for a bill with negligible public health benefits.

Roadside concentrations of nitrogen dioxide have steadily increased during the past three years. Each day of inaction costs us three more lives, according to the Hedley Environmental Index. We cannot allow the anti-idling bill to become a huge detour, when the path towards cleaner air is so well marked. The government needs to refocus its efforts, attention and energy on the main task at hand: cleaning up our commercial diesel fleet – urgently.

Joanne Ooi is chief executive officer of the Clean Air Network.

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A government plan to set up a low-emission zone in busy districts, including Central, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, is probably not going to be put into action before the current administration ends its term in 2012.

Low emission zones are areas where only Euro IV public buses would be allowed to enter. However, because there are only 160 buses that currently meet that standard; the EPD has proposed that Euro II and Euro III buses first be fitted with a filter to meet Euro IV emission standards.

A study of fitting a catalyst reduction device would only begin in 2011 and last till 2012, wherein the present political administration would step down.

While the device has been tested on single-decker buses in London and Belgium, buses in Hong Kong are double-deckers and operate in hot and humid summer conditions, making the operating efficiency of the devices on them unknown.

“As of March, Euro II buses made up about 70 per cent of the 5,800-strong fleet for Kowloon Motor Bus, New World First Bus and Citybus combined. If all the 2,360 buses entering the three busy areas have to meet the Euro IV emission standard, there would be a shortfall of 2,200 buses. And even if entry to the zones was lowered to Euro III standard, there would still be a shortfall of about 1,200 buses.”

To read the full article (subscription-only), go here.

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Air pollution impacts drivers’ health

Long-term health impacts on drivers

1.     Idling trucks versus trucks in transit emit far higher levels of pollutants per mile.

The California Air Resources Board found that the per mile emission rate of organic carbon and elemental carbon from a heavy duty diesel truck in congested traffic is 8.1 times higher and 1.9 times higher, respectively, than the same truck in transit.  Drivers sitting in the cross-border queues between China and Hong Kong are subject to toxic levels of diesel fumes. Similarly, drivers sitting in traffic are subject to emissions build-up because of a lack of air flow, increasing their risk of heart attack, stroke, asthma, etc.

Obviously, drivers sitting in cross-border queues and other similar situations are subject to very high levels of pollutants.

2.     Diesel truck drivers, diesel mechanics, and others constantly and closely exposed to diesel exhaust are up to 50% more likely to develop lung cancer.

3.     Diesel particulate matter accumulates to dangerous levels inside the cabs of idling trucks.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, drivers who idle for hours in long lines are sitting in truck cabs with diesel PM levels 2,000 times greater than those considered acceptable by U.S. state and federal environmental protection agencies.

4.     Beijing taxi drivers more likely to suffer heart attacks because of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

A study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) evaluated the relationship between exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and heart rate variability (HRV) in taxi drivers in Beijing, China before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Because of the Olympics, China had put great effort in air cleanup activity.

The results of the study showed that increases in PM2.5 pollution levels were associated with decreases in HRV in young and healthy taxi drivers. Decreased HRV increases risk for adverse cardiac events such as heart attacks.

Short-term effects of air pollution

Idling engines can be a significant component of roadside emissions. Public health research shows that roadside pollution is dangerous to health in the following ways:

1.       Kaoshiung Medical University, Taiwan: Exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide increases stroke risk by 54%.

2.       “The American Heart Association says there is enough evidence to conclude that air pollution can trigger heart attacks and other heart problems.”

3.       Two hours exposure to high roadside pollution increases heart rate.

4.       Exposure to PM leads to increased blood clotting activity and changes in heart rhythm

5.       Pollution ups blood clot risk

Health effects of pollution combined with heat

1.     Maximum daily temperature and concentrations of NO2 were the most significant risk factors for heat stroke in a study conducted in Tokyo in 1999.

2.     Referring to the Kaohshiung study above, which demonstrated a link between PM, NO2 and strokes, the researchers stated that temperatures over 20˚C increase the risk of stroke further.

3.     Ozone may increase risk of cardiovascular death when temperatures high.

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Chan Hak Kan/ Tanya Chan

Both members proposed to exempt vehicles when interior temperatures reach 27ºC, citing the case of Toronto.  The EPD pointed out that Toronto has since eliminated this exemption because it is too difficult to enforce.

Kam Nai Wai

Kam supports the anti-idling ordinance without exemptions, because it is important to foster the spirit of environmental protection in society. Moreover, to his view, an interior temperature monitoring exemption would be impossible to enforce. Rather, the government should introduce the new law by warning drivers during the first year, then introduce penalties once drivers have learned to adapt. The EPD pointed out that, typically, the enforcement of a new law lags behind its announcement, giving drivers sufficient time to adapt.

Cyd Ho

Ho advocates exemptions based on a grading system of weather conditions. Drivers would be permitted to idle during extreme weather. Alternatively, a seasonal weather exemption could be established.

Lee Cheuk Yan

Despite claiming to be a vocal advocate of driver health, Lee doesn’t believe that air pollution has short-term impacts on drivers’ health. Thus, he champions a seasonal exemption based on warm weather, i.e., June to September. To his (uninformed) view,   drivers’ health should NOT be subordinated to cleaning up the air. Besides, without such an exemption, drivers will drive around instead of idling, potentially causing more emissions.  The EPD stressed that idling can cause severe long and short-term health problems.

Miriam Lau

Lau believes that the idling law is only acceptable where there are covered taxi stands and areas. Overheated vehicles could adversely impact drivers’ business.   She hopes that a new technology which enables idling without keeping the engine on could be the answer. The EPD responded that the new technology will not be ready until October and, besides, will have to undergo extensive testing before it can be introduced to the market.

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