This year’s clean air day the popular food delivery company Deliveroo made a bold statement in the fight against air pollution in the UK by announcing they would be supplying all of their cyclists with pollution masks.
As stated in Evening Standard, UK schools, organizations and companies held multiple events across the nation to raise awareness on how important clean air is for us. Bikeworks offered free bike check-ups for the day. Foxhills Infant and Junior School in Southampton closed their school car park and replaced it with a carnival. Meanwhile, schools from across Caerphilly gathered at Caerphilly Castle for a series of workshops. The Royal College of Physicians also took their part to host a clean air conference in Liverpool. Pharmacies in Camden and Islington in London put Clean Air Day stickers and tips on bags.
Half of all Deliveroo's 25,000 UK self-employed riders use bicycles to make deliveries and the company is determined to play its part. Especially in tackling the challenges of pollution and poor air quality in areas where the company operates. The deliveroo branded Cambridge masks will be available to riders in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow. They will also be available to the general public later in the summer.
Cambridge Mask has an advanced particulate filter for dust, exhaust fumes, and pollen. The masks would also remove harmful particulates down to PM2.5, which is around 1/50th the width of a human hair. These particulates can go deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream which is challenges for riders. Especially, the cyclist that is exposed directly without a shield to the air pollution.
Click here to understand PM 2.5!
Based on a study by the Stockholm Environment Institute, exposure to PM2.5 has been found to be responsible. It is up to 18% of premature births globally. Additionally, the University of Birmingham found death by cancer in elderly people increase by 22%. It is because of every extra 10 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter in the air. The main contributors that increase the levels of particulate matter are vehicles, power generators, industrial. Additionally, agricultural emissions, residential heating and cooking, the manufacture and distribution of chemicals and forest fires.
According to a Canadian epidemiological study published earlier this year in The Lancet, people living within 50 meters from a major roadway are more likely to be exposed to PM 2.5 the most and up to 14% will likely develop dementia.
Not only that, another King’s College study estimated that in London, 9,500 people die every year due to health complications related to exposure to air pollution. The notoriously bad air in the UK’s capital prompted the European Commission to issue a legal warning shortly after one of the city’s streets breached limits for nitrogen oxides only five days into 2017.
Based on above should push us more to take action regarding air pollution, not only on Clean Air Day but every day…
The causes of air pollution differ around the world. It could come from agricultural burning. Also, the emission from the industry, the use of the chemical product that we use in our daily basis. Moreover, the fumes from our transportation that we took every day. Prof. Jonathan Grigg of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and an expert on air pollution said: “Approximately 50% of air pollution comes from road transport and 40% comes from diesel.” The emission from transportation is such a constant production of air pollution that is really damaging the clean air as well as our lungs. As stated in The Guardian, older cars and diesel engines produce particulates that clog up lungs. Not only that, the scariest part is the particles may enter brain tissue and nitrogen oxides that affect breathing.
Click here to read more about the effect of air pollution on our lungs.
One of the possible ways to reduce air pollution is to take public transportation as it is more environmentally friendly rather than everyone goes out in their private transportation. However, the surprising fact is that taking public transportation might bring our lungs to more polluted air. As stated in The Guardian, in early 2019, James Tate from the University of Leeds, found that people in buses spent longer in toxic air.
If taking public transportation would save our environment but lead our lugs to more toxic air. What is the best transportation that is safe for our lungs and saving the environment?
One possible answer is riding a bicycle as the main transportation. Besides cycling is environmentally friendly as it is zero-emission transportation. Cycling is also very healthy for our body as well. According to The Telegraph, cycling could benefit the cardiovascular function, tone muscle and build strength which will improve the fat burning in your body. You can check the other health benefits of cycling here. Besides giving benefits to the body, cycling also could increase mental health. A study by the YMCA in 2017 showed that people with physically active lifestyles. They had a ‘well-being score’ 32% higher than inactive individuals.
On the other hand, cyclist also reported receiving more air pollution than other drivers.
While exercising, cyclist ends up sucking in more air, which means there’s a greater chance for harmful particles being absorbed. Sometimes, cyclist breathes through the mouth meaning that the inhaled air might bypass our body's air-filtering system. It is from our nasal passages. Then, ended up the air pollution become worst entering our body.
Researchers from the London School of Medicine looked into this issue in 2011. Bicycle commuters inhale more than twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians making a comparable trip. The only way to reduce this is to avoid traffic hot spots by taking alternative routes wherever possible. A recent study by Cambridge University found that the health benefits of cycling – as well as walking – outweigh the risks caused by air pollution in 99% of cities.
After examining the different levels of air pollution in thousands of cities in the world monitored by the World Health Organisation. The researchers established a tipping point – the length of time after which there was no further health benefit, and a break-even point when the harm from air pollution began to outweigh the health benefit.
Source: https://ig.ft.com/sites/urban-cycling/
If cycling is the most environmentally friendly transportation but also bring harm to our lung. How to reduce the harm of exposure to air pollution by cycling and get the health benefit to the fullest?
One simple idea stated in The Guardian is to take quieter back streets. It is where the concentration of some pollutants can be considerably lower than on main roads. As an illustration, the London Air website provides a live map of smog levels in the capital. It shows how so much of it is clustered around big roads. Therefore, we can say that air pollution is such an invisible killer as we could not see them enter and damaging our body. This means that we need to protect our lungs.
The N95 mask is needed as it could block PM 2.5 contained in fumes of traffic. Currently, Cambridge Mask has N95 Mask which features New Lab tested filtration technology filters over 95% of pollution. Also, gases, and bacteria and viruses up to 90 hours of use. Not only that, but it also a form of protection against odors, all PM; PM2.5, PM0.3, pollen, smoke, and pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. N95 also the best solution for cyclists as our BASIC Mask is lighter to wear and makes breathing is easier.
Clean air awareness should be increased as the impact is not only for us but for the next generation.
If we are not aware of how important to keep the air clean and healthy to breath, then the next generation would carry the burden of our inaction. It would also face the possibility of severe lungs problem in the future.
According to the research funded by Public Health England (PHE) and carried out in collaboration with the UK Health Forum and Imperial College London, there could be around 2.5 million new cases of coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, childhood asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, low birth weight, and dementia by 2035 if current air pollution levels persist. The latest findings, warn these costs could reach as much as £18.6 billion by 2035 unless action is taken.
Then Deliveroo’s action is such a perfect combo to pair cycling and wearing N95 mask in action to make the clean air happen. At the same time protecting our lung from air pollution. Hopefully, there will be more and more people aware of how important is to keep the air clean and as well as protecting the lungs with the N95 and N99 mask!
If you are cycling as your main transportation. Please visit Cycle Surgery at Waterloo Bridge, London to get your Cambridge Mask to make sure your lungs protected and get the health benefit of cycling to the most!