Pollution and your kids

[Jack57]

10:16AM Saturday February 16, 2008

NEW YORK - Kids who live in neighbourhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air, a new study shows.

The effect of pollution on intelligence was similar to that seen in children whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, or in kids who have been exposed to lead, Dr Shakira Franco Suglia of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

While the effect of pollution on cardiovascular and respiratory health has been studied extensively, less is known about how breathing dirty air might affect the brain, Suglia and her team write in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

To investigate, she and her colleagues looked at 202 Boston children 8 to 11 years old who were participating in a study of maternal smoking. The researchers related several measures of cognitive function to the children's estimated exposure to black carbon, a component of the particulate matter emitted in automobile and truck exhaust, particularly by diesel vehicles.


The more heavily exposed children were to black carbon, the lower were their scores on several intelligence tests.

When the researchers adjusted for the effects of parents' education, language spoken at home, birth weight, and exposure to tobacco smoke, the association remained.

For example, heavy exposure to black carbon was linked to a 3.4-point drop in IQ, on average. Heavily exposed children also scored lower on tests of vocabulary, memory and learning.

"It's within the range for in utero tobacco exposure and lead exposure," Suglia said in an interview.

She pointed out that exposure to traffic pollution has been associated with a number of other harmful effects and that, short of moving away from heavy traffic areas, there's not much people can do to limit it.

She and her colleagues suggest that traffic pollution may exert harmful effects by causing inflammation and oxidative damage to the brain. They call for further research on the effects of pollution on the development of intelligence in children and on cognitive decline for people of all ages, including whether traffic exposure might cause or accelerate brain degeneration in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

[MidgetBoy]

Kids who live in neighbourhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air, a new study shows.

No really? That's like saying you do better on an exam without a bullet in your head. Does it really matter how much damage pollution does to us? Everyone knows it's bad. Why do people waste money to study stuff like this.

[GlueBall]

And the point is: Don't bring your kids nor yourself to HKG. Besides pollution, this Special Administrative Region is overcrowded; 15,000 people per square mile. :{

[moosp]

Glue, yes we are densely populated, but that is not the problem. 15,000 Hong Kong Chinese in a square mile is fine because they have developed a vibrant city mentality as only they can. Hong Kong works, New York works. Put us on the plains of Montana and we will wither and die.

Indeed I would prefer to live at this population density with this ethnicity that most any other that I can think of.

The problem is pollution, air, noise and water. We are constrained by a government that cannot act to reduce these because they are in the financial hands of the very people who produce the pollution.

Eventually the developing and innovative pollution laws of China will be enacted in Hong Kong but that does not have to be the case until 2047.

Until then, hold your breath and when your kid gets asthma, get out.

[N1 Vibes]

moosp,

"vibrant city mentality" - next time you try and get into a lift/the MTR look around and congratulate yourself on what a wonderful place HKG has become. As somebody slams a door in your face. Spits on the pavement for you to walk in. Allows their mutt to sh!t in the playground where your children play. Or when the local plumber when repairing your sh!tter reroutes the effluent into a water drain and not an effluent drain - this happened here in HKG and infected a number of people in the same building with SARS just a few years ago.

What a considerate city we REALLY are!?

But what about the community spirit - when people take their lives and the lives of their family by burning charcoal in their apartments - the neighbours would just complain to the property management about the smoke!!

A man sets fire to his apartment block by leaving a dodgy electric fan running to cool his rabbit, that isn't allowed in the property.

The PLB drivers that reverse into old women and kill them, and then drive off as if nothing had happened.

My apologies for such crude examples - but nothing surprises me here...

Welcome to Asias 1st World City

:\

[missingblade]

Oh hell N1vibes - the reality is this stuff happens everywhere. Just watch the Reality TV programs about animal abuse in USA and you will want to kill with frustration over how many people do stupid and cruel things. Granted the more backwards and undeveloped a society is the worse it gets. And taking that into consideration HKG is way better than most places in the world despite a few heartless busdrivers....

Back to the topic however - Pollution is soon going to cause HKG to become a 'hardship posting' again - like it was in the past. And companies will have to increase expat packages to keep them here. As we all know the only thing that makes you sleep better at night while your kids cough in the next room will be that big paycheck!!

[Al Fakhem]

For obvious (political) reasons, very little is being said about the disproportionate contribution Hong Kong's harbour makes toward pollution. It's so much easier to zero into cars, trucks and planes, plus the "filthy" industries just across the border.

Yet here you have a massive traffic in ships burning what is essentially refinery waste - even whilst docked (just to generate a few kWs). Sulphur, fine dust particals, soot....... nobody cares. As long as we can make hou doh chinnah.

[A. Le Rhone]

...but meanwhile (and I too have been guilty of this by virtue of my 'head-in-the-sand' mentality) every day our kids breathe in this toxic nightmare and every day their lungs accrue layer on layer of damaging, longevity reducing, carcenogenic filth.

So the time has come. Donald Tsang won't address it but I will.

The CV has been updated and sent and it's time to move on. Actually it's past the time. God knows what long-term damage I've done to my family and myself by continually breathing in this toxic soup.

HK airlines can pay massive amounts of blood-money (or call it whatever you like) to get the increasingly scarce pilot 'resource' to come here but my conscience now prohibits me from killing my kids and thus having a fatish wallet.

A widely-available commuting roster is not forthcoming so its time to go.

Thanks and good luck to all for the future in the 'Fragrant Harbour'.

[Dirty Lungs]

My wife and I have been seriously reviewing our future here and have very recently come to the decision to leave Hong Kong. We are no longer willing to subject ourselves and our children to this offensive, disgusting air that is doing who knows how much damage to us. As soon as I am in a position to do so (hopefully not too soon in this pilot market) we are gone...if it takes much time at all the family will get out and I will follow.

This time of year HK should be enjoying some great blue, crisp and cool days. Instead we wallow in this inpenetrable grey fog of industrial sh!t. I am sick of looking at buildings, hills and a sea horizon lost in the murk. I can't stand descending from flight levels into the sh!tosphere and start smelling it through the aircon.

My wife asked me if I knew, really knew what it was like here before we came would I have left my old company and moved. Sometimes it is difficult to admit you made a bad choice, but the answer is no, I would never have come here. :( She agrees. We knew some people here before we arrived, she laments that no-one quite spelt it out how bad the pollution actually is. To be fair, it is getting worse every year so maybe they would offer different advice now.

I now find myself actively encouraging former colleagues not to come to HK, especially if they have, or a planning to have, children.

For anyone thinking of coming here, ensure your research and due diligence covers the pollution situation in detail. No amount of shiny jets, bigger dollars (well, that's all but gone anyway) or career progression is worth the price.

[Runway101]

Me too leaving Hong Kong after 8 or almost 9 years. Too much is too much.

[BandH]

It's not just the kids. Pilots as well. Lots of guys falling ill.

[Al E. Vator]

METAR right now. Is it ever any different?

VHHH 182030Z 35009KT 330V030 4300 BR FEW020 SCT028 BKN080 25/22 Q1007 NOSIG

[bekolblockage]

4300M is a good day!

[Al E. Vator]

Well 6000m is horrible enough and about as good as it seems to get these days, but 2000m in BR!

And what chemical compounds comprise the "BR" element?

TAF VHHH 190400Z 190606 01010KT 6000 FEW010 SCT020 BKN060
TEMPO 0609 2000 BR RA FEW006CB SCT012 BKN040
TEMPO 0920 4000 BR RA
BECMG 1820 09010KT
TEMPO 2006 2500 BR RA TX24/07Z TN22/23Z

The HK Uni of Science & Technology reported that 7 years ago the "BR comprised:

Strong...concentrations of ammonium, sodium, sulfate, nitrate and chloride in PM2.5 in Hong Kong, using a Harvard honeycomb denuder/filter-pack system were measured at the different sites (HKUST, TST and Ho Man Tin) in Hong Kong during March 2000 - May 2001. We investigated the role of atmospheric mixing height in the variation in concentrations of the species in PM2.5 and quantitatively determined the contribution of the long-range transport to the ambient aerosols in Hong Kong. In total, about 40% of the measured sulfate and ammonium of PM2.5 in Hong Kong was from the non-local sources in this study. The effects of aerosol composition on the extents of sampling artifacts in PM2.5 and the contributions of individual reactions to particle evaporation were investigated. The [NH4+]/[SO42-] ratio of 1.5 is a critical ratio in the sampling artifacts of nitrate and chloride in PM2.5. Furthermore, over 250 datasets of 24-hr Respirable Suspended Particles (RSP) samples collected in 2001 from seven air-quality-monitoring sites run by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department were analyzed. Overall, the fine mode fraction of RSP is acidic with an average estimated molar [NH4+]/[SO42-] ratio of 1.24. The particles are highly acidic in nature with an average in-situ pH of –0.05 (–0.65 to 2.5).

Who knows how much ammonium, sodium, sulphate, nitrate and chloride are being inhaled and wrecking lungs now.

[missingblade]

As a new parent I am getting seriously worried. I have now spoken with THREE colleagues in the past month that had their kids tested and found VERY elevated levels of mercury and other chemicals in their blood and skin, also several have chronic lung problems - this at very young ages. I am watching my kiddie very carefully and seriously looking for that commuting roster while dusting of the CV.:(

[Bow Inn]

I'm also pulling the plug this summer I'm afraid. Know of at least 3 other Cathay families doing the same and I'm seriously considering my future should a base not be available. The pollution here is out of control and the environmental disaster, in my opinion, is of biblical proportions. The western world is slowly trying to improve its behavior when it comes to environmental issues. Yet in order to feed its insatiable appetite for ever cheaper products, requires places like China to increase its manufacturing output. And with little or no environmental laws, the end result is shocking. I don't believe the average person in Europe/North America is aware of the damage being done in this part of the world.

No improvement in our life time me thinks, as a fair proportion of the factories in southern China are owned by HKG businessmen. Money more important around here than anything else, including life. After all, that's why most of us have turned a blind eye to the problem for so long. We're probably just as greedy.

Lots of non airline friends are also very concerned but they're typically only here for about 3 years, before they move on. Other expat locations like the "sand pit" have it's problems I'm sure, but large companies like Cathay will find it increasingly difficult to attract people to the smog of Hong Kong.

I think this is a great city and I've really enjoyed my time here. But you only have to look out the window to realize it just can't keep going on like this.

Just my thoughts.

BI

[christep]

No improvement in our life time me thinksI'm not convinced about that. It's gone from perfectly acceptable (maybe 10 crap days a year) to the current mess (maybe 10 good ones) in less than 10 years. It could be reversed just as quickly.

[GlueBall]

Ultimate remedy would be for all HKG based crews to live or to be based in or near the cities of CX's route structure. HKG would become a layover point, or a transit stop, rather than be a large crew hub. :ooh:

[Al E. Vator]

2008/05/21 22:30 UTC

VHHH 212230Z 10013KT 4100 BR FEW010 SCT025 BKN080 24/23 Q1008 NOSIG

Dear oh dear

[buggaluggs]

Yep , another standard day in HK

VHHH 220200Z 10012KT 3700 BR FEW007 SCT022 BKN050 26/23 Q1009 NOSIG

Although admittedly the RH is up around 90% so some of the 'BR' might actually be mist!! Wonders will never cease !! :eek:

Some interesting reading on this website ' www.cleartheair.org.hk ' especially how the 20 year old Hong Kong air pollution index relates to the WHO/green peace index! :ugh:

Buggs out

[Loiter1]

I agree Glueball, but at least for those in CX (and I suspect other aviation employers in HK), it will take a mass exodus to make it act.

[trevfly]

will our kids thank us in their later life for been money grabbing expats in a stinking pollution hell hole, when they are coughing and weezing at the age of 35?

All for what, 15-20% more tax?

[Mrs Pilot]

Well, we are doing something about it...leaving!!!

Today is the last day in Hong Kong for our family. After enduring the pollution levels of last winter (and this spring which hasn't seemed to improve greatly) we are moving the kids to somewhere safe and clean, never to return.

Hong Kong does have some great things about it which lured us here, but all the $$$$ in China (not that we were receiving much!) wouldn't keep us here subjecting our kids to this air. Everyday we just grew more depressed with the air quality. It affects your day to day life in so many ways.

Reading other people's opinions on this thread it is good to see that many people feel the same way. Subjecting delicate developing lungs and bodies to this environment was something my husband and I were not prepared to do to our kids. The long term effects of growing up in HK in 2008 pollution levels will only manifest themselves in later years.

The local government has NO genuine interest in reversing the accelerating problem of air quality. It seems that brown skies mean more profits so they are happy to continue on with business as usual.

It's ridiculous that Hong Kong has become a place where there is great demand from people willing to pay $13000 for a proper effective air purifier. We bought two as soon as we moved here, but they didn't cost that much then - the importer is completely gouging and preying on the health concerns of people.

We have made wonderful friends here and we don't have regrets about our original decision to pursue a career in Hong Kong. However, if we knew then what we know now about the air pollution here, there is NO WAY in hell we would have moved our family to HK.

[Bow Inn]

Absolutely spot on Mrs. Pilot. We're going for the same reasons. I think we've enjoyed the experience of Hong Kong and have also made some good friends. We have also benefited from it financially (on paper at least) and still think its worth giving the place a go. But not enough to play Russian roulette with my children's health. Young developing lungs must surely be effected by the filthy air. Brown/yellow skies are here to stay and equal huge profits for the factory owners. Most of them probably spend little time in Hong Kong anyway and can easily escape to their overseas homes from time to time.

Walked past a posh children's clothes shop in Central last week. The place was also selling/marketing those very expensive Swiss built air purifying machines. Clearly aimed at the new mums who will be anxious about their newborn's health and quite able to afford such an expensive device. Great marketing and typical of Hong Kong.

It's a tough choice but we couldn't ignore the pollution any longer.

Good luck.

BI

[Peebee and Jay]

We went for a 3 week holiday a couple of months ago. After only 2 weeks, my 2 kids stoppedcoughing, and runny noses was a thing of the past. Both had color in their cheeks and had more energy and enthusiasm. It was obvious to my wife and I. They stayed behind and are doing great.
Respect to all the guys that have been commuting for such a long time. It's not easy. Aside from spending a lot of time on aircraft and being tired all the time, it's not nice being away from the family.
We have made the decision. The family will not come back to Hong Kong and I will join them before the winter. It was not an easy decision but seeing the positive effect of fresh air and wide open space on my family made it obvious. We loved Hong Kong and will miss our friends, but the health of our kids outweighs that by far.

PB&J

[No-Wai]

It never ceases to amaze me how many people seem genuinely surprised by the pollution in HK. If you moved here in the last 5-7 years you would have to have had some clue what it was like. Maybe you did your interview on one of the (rare) days it was fine, but anyone with a modicum of intelligence must, nay SHOULD, have done something resembling research before they upped & moved their progeny into this environment.

Kudos for deciding to leave, but spare us all the "martyred for a family cause" histrionics many here seem intent on telling us.

One wonders whether the Middle East thread is littered with posts titled "gaaaawd, it's so bl00dy hot here. Who'd have thought it would be so hot?".

Perhaps the Nordic forum is filled with self-congratulatory types bragging about their decision to move to warmer climes "for the sake of the family".

So, as many of you move back to ex-pat origins various: take a note of those cheap goods in the mega-malls, the low cost sneakers (from the Chinese sweatshops) you buy at the outlet centers, little Billy's latest Lego toy and all the other products you feel it is your god-given right to have access to at low, low prices and wonder - just for a second - where those goods come from? If you connect those dots, perhaps it won't seem so odd that there is a serious pollution problem here. If the Amazon rainforest is regarded as "the lungs of the world", then the Pearl river Delta is clearly "the factory of the world".

At the risk of belittling a far more serious issue, anyone who has seen the movie "Blood Diamond" will remember the scene where the fermale journalist berates Leo's character for his particpation in the evil trade that is conflict diamonds. Danny Archer's retort is priceless: her jingoistic view of the process that results in the conflict diamonds trade demonstrates how grossly ignorant the first world has become: it is the Madison Avenue (to borrow a HK term) tai-tais and their thirst for pretty baubles, ferociously fed by a consumerist-based media that is the true reason for the trade.

Anyway, rant over. Sorry the pollution got to so many of you - next time, open a book or make a phone call. It'll save you much heartache in the long run. :ugh:

[rick.shaw]

Compliments of today's SCMP....

Young and old pay high price for bad Delta air


Mary Ann Benitez
Jun 12, 2008
Children and the elderly in the greater Pearl River Delta are paying a high price for worsening air pollution, researchers warn, following a study that puts the health impact of air pollution at 6.7 billion yuan a year.
Poor air quality is causing 10,000 premature deaths a year, 440,000 hospital bed days and 11 million doctors' visits in Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta, states the study, entitled "A Price Too High", by Civic Exchange.

A first in terms of pinning down the health cost of bad air in the region, the study was conducted over nine months by leading health, science and public policy experts who analysed ambient air pollution from 2003-2006, before projecting its health impact.

This impact is steep: HK$1.1 billion a year in Hong Kong, HK$18 million in Macau and 1.8 billion yuan a year in the Pearl River Delta, the study says.
"If adjusted for differences in gross domestic product, the health-related monetary costs of air pollution in the PRD amounts to 6.7 billion yuan," said Anthony Hedley, chair professor of the University of Hong Kong's department of community medicine, who noted the estimates were "very conservative".

The costs represent only the economic losses and do not take into account the pain and suffering or put a value on life.

The team said air pollution was hitting children and the elderly, the most vulnerable members of society, particularly hard.

"It will begin to erode progress in life expectancy, but more than that it will make people sick before they die," Professor Hedley said.

The scientists said businesses were concerned about air pollution because they had difficulty recruiting people from overseas.

"My concern is lung health, growth and development of a child who is growing up in Mong Kok or Causeway Bay," Professor Hedley said.
He spoke of a cumulative effect on children and adolescents who have been exposed to poor air quality in the past 10-15 years; and the aged, who might require more medical attention than expected.

The team urged the government to adopt an overall total air quality management framework, provide real-time data to the public, act to cut emissions from land and marine transport, adopt a clean-fuel initiative, regularly review policies and standards, and fund research.

[US Marine]

there's no whining, bleeting or otherwise.

vermin....maybe you dont live near cathay pilots anymore

[Blogsey]

back home (UK for me)better quality of lifeblue skies and fresh airThat is a concern when someone prefers the UK WX than HK.......

[N1 Vibes]

Blogsey,

I guess you were out of town when we had the glorious blue-skies over the last week eh? Course all that rain must be good for the garden as well right....

Regards

N1 Vibes

[Blogsey]

I guess you were out of town
Only arrived in HK this week. Looking out my hotel window I currently see nothing but sunshine (a couple of clouds) and good vis......

I know, I know, it's the 1 clear day a year blah blah.......:ok:

[badairsucker]

Only arrived in HK this week. Looking out my hotel window I currently see nothing but sunshine (a couple of clouds) and good vis......

I know, I know, it's the 1 clear day a year blah blah.......:ok:



Well, not the voice of experience.


I look forward to your views when you have a few years living in HK under your belt.

[N1 Vibes]

blogsey,

assuming you are staying in the headland hotel you can see from your window the beautiful green hills of lantau, hk's largest island. you will notice several red/brown scars on the lovely green mountains - where we suffered a number of landslips last saturday, as a result of 145mm of rain in 1 hr, followed by a further 300mm.

one of the results of the landslides across the channel in Tuen Mun was the death of 2 people, crushed under a 20 ton wall of concrete.

Some video footage of the ladslides:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2uTKyK1c9k
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=p4cCTH8CM2U

Welcome to Hong Kong.

Regards,

N1 Vibes

PS - this rainfall was the highest recorde since records began in HKG over 150yrs ago. The next highest rainfall record was just 2 years ago in 2006....

[Kitsune]

Plus the ever present threat of.....
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-12-voa9.cfm

[christep]

... a government whose ability to analyse and respond rationally is about on a par with a headless chicken, you mean?