Ozone
The Grim Reaper
No. 1 in a never-ending series. Spring 1992
Whilst there's a frightening ozone hole in the upper atmosphere, there's a whole lot of ozone down here that we don't want, and it is causing serious health problems. Ozone at street level is a secondary pollutant. It doesn't come directly out exhaust pipes. Instead it arises from the interaction of atmospheric ozone (the stuff we need more of), oxides of nitrogen, and hydrocarbons under the influence of sunlight. The cars chuck out nitrogen dioxide and hydrocarbons, the sun shines, add a little bit of high level ozone and, hey presto, you've got yourself some nasty low level lung-damaging ozone.
Ozone can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea and respiratory problems. Your eyes, nose and throat may also be irritated. Asthmatic children and bronchitic elderly are particularly susceptible to beathing difficulties. It is also thought to weaken your immune system and damage lung tissue.
Bristol Environmental Health Department has been monitoring the city for ozone since 1989. Basically the volume of traffic is now so great in Bristol and the South of England, that whenever we have the 'right' weather conditions to act as a catalyst we get ozone peaks that sometimes exceed all safety guidelines. In the last two years there have been five episodes (some of several days) when the World Health Organisation guidelines were exceeded by up to 100%. These episodes were linked to a combination of factors including sunny settled weather, wind blowing in some even more polluted air from the east, and a Bank Holiday traffic jam on the M4.
If you think you can escape to the countryside, don't bother. Ozone produced by urban pollution is not static. It drifts and disperses over a wide area and readings taken in rural areas can produce even higher results than the city. Is this planet doomed, I ask myself? (No, not if you join BCC - Ed.)
The Grim Reaper
