Judith wrote:
On Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:40:20 -0700 (PDT), Simon Mason
wrote:
On Mar 25, 5:59 pm, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
On 25/03/2011 12:16, Doug wrote:
On Mar 25, 10:03 am, Matt wrote:
On 25/03/2011 09:01, Doug wrote:
For several days now there have been moderate pollution warnings
but today, Friday, this has turned to 'High' and people are
advised to stay indoors. So cyclists beware and we can thank the
many motorists on our roads for contributing to that harmful
pollution.
ITYF it's not "motorists", but London buses, taxis and goods
vehicles and European power stations and agriculture that are the
main problems.
No, road traffic is the main problem in London and cars are 80% of
all road traffic. Also petrol vehicles are mainly responsible for
benzene which is carcinogenic.
At what concentration **** for brains?
--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk
"Short-term exposure limit (STEL). The employer shall assure that no
employee is exposed to an airborne concentration of benzene in excess
of five (5) ppm as averaged over any 15 minute period"
Oh dear, oh dear : Simples thinks that the concentration of benzene
in the air from traffic just happens to be the same as the H&S limit
for industry.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that "no safe level for airborne
benzene can be recommended as it is carcinogenic to humans and there is no
known safe threshold level."
It also says:
"Research shows that in many traffic conditions pollution levels inside cars
can be up to eighteen times higher than those in "ambient" air outside."
and
Drivers can be exposed to even higher levels of health-damaging pollutants
than those experienced by cyclists and pedestrians.
so cyclists do not need to whinge about it as they have less of it to
breathe than car drivers suffer.
finding a figure for benzene levels in London is hard, but one study from
1998 states that the levels are around about 1 part per billion for much of
the year with odd spikes in the winter up to about 9ppb
http://www.agius.com/hew/resource/aq-past.htm
roughly agreed with he
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/asset...5_2benzene.pdf
so IIUC 5ppm is vastly higher than will ever be found on the streets.