The Last Gasp: Public Health in the fight for clean air

Transcription

1 The Last Gasp: Public Health in the fight for clean air

2 Audience participation questions Where do you associate yourself Academic (faculty, student, graduate etc..) Government Environment Health Public Health; Health Authority Public NGO ENGO Citizen Other

3 Audience participation questions Do you feel that efforts to improve air quality have failed or succeeded in BC? Has your opinion changed today? Y/N What is the main driver to improve air quality: - health - environmental protection - climate change - quality of life; (perception, tourism )

4 Audience participation questions Has the health sector carried its weight in the efforts to reduce impacts from poor air quality? Y/N Has public health been active enough? Y/N

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6 Atmospheric sciences Health sciences Policy Public Engagement

7 The challenge Most of the time BC air quality is great Is not getting worse, and might even be getting better Wildfires aside - advisories are limited to a few locations, smaller population centres, specific circumstances

8 What are the problems Wild fire smoke Wood burning Wood appliances Domestic (aka backyard) burning Agricultural/forestry biomass reduction burning. Industrial/Point source emissions Resource extraction

9 What are the problems cont. Combustion engine related Passenger vehicles Trucking and? trains Non road vehicles construction, forestry, agriculture etc. Marine Road dust Miscellaneous that may be important to some

10 Why have we been successful? Emission reduction requirements regulated Less emissions (phase out wood, coal) Reduced emission for similar processes (better technology) Cultural shift Better air, better health. Keep clean air spaces clean, continuous improvement Alternatives to wood are standard eg furnaces Embracing public support for alternative transportation

11 Why have we been successful? Who drove the regulations? Who shifted the culture? Who increased public understanding? Better understanding Risk communication, behavioural change Climate change

12 NH dedicated 0.5 and regional team Other regional health authorities ~ 0.1 of EHO to air quality. Same for MHO. FNHA similar, perhaps more total time BCCDC bastion of expertise with about twice as much power as rest of system Ministry of Health resource mostly embedded in Ministry of Environment.

13 What gets measured gets managed

14 Public Health roles Educators public and governance Advisory structure often public face. slight variation between rural HAs. Metro Vancouver quite different Human health risk and exposure assessments Land use planning efforts, transportation planning

15 Public Health roles Participants in air-shed working groups, where they exist. Advocates for cleaner air options; wood-burning, idling, transport reduction; air-shed management, regulation reviews. Stimulating and participating in research

16 Current airshed management bodies NH Prince George, Quesnel, Bulkley Valley Island Cowichan, Alberni Interior Golden, Williams Lake, Kamloops, Lavington Metro Vancouver - institutionalized Are there bodies not listed? Why is so little of BC covered by airshed management bodies that health involved with.

17 Low intensity? high yield.

18 Newer challenges Population and industrial growth New technologies or emerging issues. Incorporating new science (eg OP, PM speciation, multipollutant effects)

19 Newer challenges An environmental equity issue Neighbourhoods (hotspots), community, provincial, global Socioeconomic inequality Predisposing issues (age, illness) Who regulates versus strategizes

20 Newer challenges Conflict resolution over right to clean air where clean has different interpretations Wood smoke odours The role of citizen science and citizen advocacy

21 Potential newer challenges arising from discussions today Air quality within a broader ecological construct GDI vehicles Increasing frequency of wildfires

22 A few notable dilemmas There are no prescribed air pollution health hazards that permit simple application of Public Health Act There is no safe level, hence defining consistent action level(s) is (are) arbitrary Is airshed management still a better practice to be supported? Is it time limited? Where does air quality live in public health? where in agenda?

23 A few notable dilemmas Many interventions are outside of the direct influence of public health - labour intensive. Urban bias in research, most advisories are rural. Implications? Health impact research lags atmospheric science GHG, Climate change and air quality discourse Outdoor versus indoor AQ Equity Equity Equity

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25 With thanks FNHA Gethsemane Lutrell NH Raina Fumerton, Paula Tait VCH - James Lu, Emily Peterson FHA Lisa Mu, Oonagh Tyson, Ken Shaw IH Kamran Golmohammadi, Ivor Norlin, Greg Baytalan Island Health Angela Wheeler And anyone else I have overlooked

26 Paul Hasselback MD MSc FRCPC Medical Health Officer Central Vancouver Island