Nitrogen Oxide
The Grim Reaper
No. 2 in a never-ending series. Summer 1992
Cars are responsible for about 50% of nitrogen oxide emissions. Other sources include central heating and industry. Nitrogen oxides are bad news for your body and for nature as well. They irritate the respiratory tract, impair lung function, and have been linked to lung cancer.
They also damage soil, lakes and trees, since they are responsible for about one third of all acid rain. As if that weren't enough, they also play an important role in the formation of photochemical smog, producing damaging low level ozone.
World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines are most likely to be exceeded in the vicinity of most busy roads. The Bristol Environmental Health Department takes readings on many main roads, and the results are universally high and depressing. One such example is Old Market which was surveyed continuously for a period of 193 days last year. Under WHO criteria for nitrogen dioxide, air quality was registered as being "poor" or "very poor" for 30% of that time, and indeed was only found to be "good" for 15%. For the rest, the air quality was "moderate" though within this band readings were usually close to "poor".
Bristol Cycling Campaign has plans to do its own monitoring of nitrogen dioxide by attaching simple equipment to a bicycle, and cycling around town. This should show us just how much poison cyclists are exposed to. Watch this space!
In the mean time, I have heard a rumour that part boiled potatoes are very good for sealing car exhaust pipes. However, I feel I must add that it would be thoroughly reprehensible were any cyclist to conduct tests...
The Grim Reaper
