May 23, 2010

SMH news - Chronic disease


Chronic disease risk higher for industrial area residents

NICK O'MALLEY INVESTIGATIONS
May 22, 2010
RESIDENTS of the Hunter Valley who live near the region's dense cluster of open-cut coal mines and power stations are at greater risk of chronic disease and premature death, according to a new study.

The report, commissioned by the government following a series of stories on the region by theHerald, found emergency department attendances and hospital admissions for asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular, as well as overall premature death were higher in parts of the Upper and Lower Hunter Valley than across the state.


It also found strong evidence that fine-dust pollution of the type created by coal mining and coal-fired power generation could cause ill health of this type.

But it said that on the evidence available no relationship between the region's heavy industry and higher disease rates had been established.

The state's chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, acknowledged the higher rates of illness. "The report shows there are higher than average rates of some conditions such as respiratory and cardiovascular problems in the region as a whole, but reaches no conclusion about the role of air pollution," she said.

"The report ultimately finds that further investigation is required to determine the role of pollutant exposure and suggests that other recognised disease risk factors including smoking need to be considered."

The report's conclusion read: ''These data may indicate adverse health effects due to exposure to coal mining or coal-fired power generators or may be due to other factors.

''Further investigation is required to determine the role of pollutant exposures.''

Much of the new evidence to be gathered about air quality in the region is expected to be drawn from a proposed network of dust monitors.

The network has already been rejected by local activists because it monitors mostly for larger particles, rather than the superfine dust recent research has shown to be most dangerous; because the network will be funded by the polluters themselves; and because the state government has not yet even decided which organisation will manage the network.

Tuan Au, a Singleton doctor who has been campaigning for more government action on the region's health, again criticised the monitoring system last night, saying he believed the wrong particles were being measured in the wrong places.

''Maybe they are frightened of getting a real answer.''
He called for further research.

An associate professor at the University of Newcastle's centre for clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, Nick Higginbotham, said the report was a good first step.

Dr Higginbotham, who has previously published a study saying health in the region had been ignored due to the dependence of the government on coal, said whoever had written the report was clearly aware of new international evidence of the dangers of dust pollution.

But he criticised the report for failing to include data from the National Pollution Inventory that showed high levels of fine particles could be found in the air over Singleton and Muswellbrook.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's just unbelievable isnt it. It's the old tobacco industry thing again where vested interests are too strong to let the real information come out. How many deaths will it take?