Health official wants renewables to avoid premature deaths in Canada

TORONTO, Ontario, CA, 2004-07-28 (Refocus Weekly)

The government in Canada’s largest province must “aggressively promote” renewable energy sources as a priority to reduce potentially fatal air pollution, a health official has urged.

Five common air pollutants contribute to 1,700 premature deaths and 6,000 hospital admissions in the city of Toronto each year, says acting Medical Officer of Health Barbara Yaffe. Exposure to fine particles in the air contribute to 12,000 cases of childhood bronchitis and 72,000 days of asthma symptoms each year.

"These premature deaths and hospital admissions are preventable and likely would not have occurred when they did without the exposure to air pollution,” says Yaffe, who has released a report that recommends the Ontario government be urged to implement a comprehensive action plan to address air pollution in Toronto. Over a ten-year period, the data show that nitrogen dioxide levels in Toronto were exceeded only by Los Angeles, Hong Kong and New York.

“In Toronto, as in many large urban centres in industrialized nations, air quality continues to present a significant concern for public health,” she explains. The health estimate is an update of a study in 2000, which estimated 1,000 premature deaths and 5,500 hospitalizations a year at that time.

Toronto has made a significant commitment to improved air quality, including an official plan that encourages alternative modes of transportation and an office of energy efficiency to improve buildings in the city, but it lacks the necessary jurisdiction and authority to improve air quality.

“Fuel consumption for activities such as home heating and electricity generation is a
significant source of air pollution,” and she wants priority to be given to aggressively promote wind generators and other renewables, and a 40% increase in energy efficiency by 2020.

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