Summer in Toronto means smog. We tracked down one of the experts in the field to find out just how bad the air is out there.
Professor Miriam Diamond is the head of the Diamond Environmental Research Group at the University of Toronto. Canadian Geographic magazine named her their Environmental Scientist of the Year in 2007.
What inspired you to get into this field?
I strongly believe in a society and world in which we take responsibility for looking after each other, and after the environment, of which we are a part and on which we rely.
Summer in Toronto means smog. How bad is it out there?
Well, it depends on the day. When we get hot, moist air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, it picks up smog from the Ohio Valley, which arrives in Toronto to join our homemade smog. It gets really bad when the winds are low velocity and its doesn’t rain.
Is it dangerous?
On some days, it could be sufficiently serious that anyone with an underlying cardio-respiratory condition, such as asthma, should lie low.
For others, it will be an irritant. But recall those colds that just don’t seem to go away? Is that because our respiratory system has been challenged by the smog and is then less able to fend off the cold?
What steps should we take? Is it gas mask time for bikers downtown?
The biggest step we should take is to get out of our cars! Stop producing smog! In the longer term, get a smaller car!
Have you noticed how many of us drive huge SUV “crossovers”?
Why drive that big thing that consumes more gasoline and produces more smog-producing chemicals? Are you doing your kids a favour by driving them around in this large vehicle that degrades the air that they are breathing?
What parts of the body does smog affect most?
Smog affects the lungs and your heart. Breathing in smog causes your arteries and veins to constrict, which could prompt an effect such as a heart attack or stroke. This effect is well documented.
There are other less dramatic but important effects such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and a wide range of respiratory ailments. But, there’s also the contribution to lung cancer.
Groups often trot out statistics about how smog kills hundreds of people in Toronto each year, but how accurate is this?
We can’t definitely say that a person died because of smog in the same way that we know when someone dies from a car accident, but we’ve got a great deal of evidence.
Analogy — cigarette smoking. You can’t “prove” that someone dies of lung cancer–induced cigarette smoking. But there’s a great deal of evidence that puts the lung cancer and cigarette smoking together.
Is legislation the key? If people are dying from smog, shouldn’t we just say no more gas-powered engines by 2020?
We just bailed out the car companies because their failure would bring down American and Canadian economies.
At the same time, we’re facing big cuts to the TTC because of an arcane funding formula that demands local support (unlike highways).
So, even though more and more kids show up to class with their puffers to alleviate their asthma symptoms, the parents are driving them to school.
During that trip they get a great dose of emissions and the vehicle contributes to exposure to others.
Your group also looks at everyday toxic chemicals. What are the worst offenders if we had to give up some products now?
I’d start with things that are useless, such as those stupid kiddie shoes that light up (containing mercury batteries), highly scented lotions, perfumes, candles, cosmetics containing phthalates — and the list goes on. But our love affair with new cellphones, computers and all things electronic translates into a huge environmental and human health burden.