Box car after box car full of black rock,China professional plasticmoulds, settled into the shape of bread loaves in uncovered containers, rumbles along the Bellingham waterfront. This is one of hundreds of communities that have grown up along the railways in the Northwest.
If more coal is exported, that could mean more trains like these coming through towns on their way to export terminals. And that has some concerned about people’s health.
Dr. Frank James is a physician and researcher at the University of Washington. He’s also a member of the Whatcom Docs – a large group of doctors in Whatcom County that are calling for an assessment of the human health impacts of increased coal train traffic.
“I’d never seen 160 doctors agree on anything — really, honest, ever — and 160 people signed up over a matter of a week,” James recalls. “So I think people understand that this is a threat, first to their patients, but secondly to them and their families.”
James says the Whatcom Docs’ biggest concerns are about track safety, noise,What are some types of moulds? diesel pollution and coal dust.
“Coal dust is not really very good for you. There’s arsenic, mercury and lead and a lot of bad things in coal and when that gets into a water supply, it’s not a very good thing as well,” James says.
Studies have been done on miners who are directly exposed to coal dust every day. Their risks of getting bronchitis, emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis are higher than the rest of the population. But so are their exposures, so it’s difficult to directly compare miners to people living near train tracks.
Right now, there’s more scientific evidence for concern about the air pollution that will come from the diesel engines that power the trains.
At his lab in Seattle Dr. Joel Kaufman studies how tiny particles of diesel pollution in the air affect people. He’s a professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Washington. Out behind the building he points up at a large metal box.
“Our diesel engine lives out here in back and it’s running on diesel fuel from the tank over here,” he says.
The exhaust from this engine is pumped into a room where participants sit and have their vitals monitored –- such as heart rate and blood pressure.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. On some days, diesel exhaust is piped into the room. On other days, clean air. And the differences, Kaufman says, are significant.
“What we’ve observed is that during the days when people come in and get the diesel exhaust, we see a higher blood pressure and a constriction of the arteries that we believe is related to the diesel exhaust,External hemorrhoids are those that occur below the dentate line.” he says.
The exposure rates in Kaufman’s lab are higher than the average exposure for someone who lives by train tracks but Kaufman says experimenting in this controlled setting is key to understanding what’s going in communities that may be suffering from lower-level long-term exposures.
“Trying to understand the health effects of diesel exhaust exposure gives us a window into the kind of health effects that could be occurring as a result of this coal transit as well,” Kaufman says.
Health effects like asthma and heart disease have been associated with exposure to diesel exhaust –- especially in communities closest to train tracks and freeways.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & moldmaker,
If more coal is exported, that could mean more trains like these coming through towns on their way to export terminals. And that has some concerned about people’s health.
Dr. Frank James is a physician and researcher at the University of Washington. He’s also a member of the Whatcom Docs – a large group of doctors in Whatcom County that are calling for an assessment of the human health impacts of increased coal train traffic.
“I’d never seen 160 doctors agree on anything — really, honest, ever — and 160 people signed up over a matter of a week,” James recalls. “So I think people understand that this is a threat, first to their patients, but secondly to them and their families.”
James says the Whatcom Docs’ biggest concerns are about track safety, noise,What are some types of moulds? diesel pollution and coal dust.
“Coal dust is not really very good for you. There’s arsenic, mercury and lead and a lot of bad things in coal and when that gets into a water supply, it’s not a very good thing as well,” James says.
Studies have been done on miners who are directly exposed to coal dust every day. Their risks of getting bronchitis, emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis are higher than the rest of the population. But so are their exposures, so it’s difficult to directly compare miners to people living near train tracks.
Right now, there’s more scientific evidence for concern about the air pollution that will come from the diesel engines that power the trains.
At his lab in Seattle Dr. Joel Kaufman studies how tiny particles of diesel pollution in the air affect people. He’s a professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Washington. Out behind the building he points up at a large metal box.
“Our diesel engine lives out here in back and it’s running on diesel fuel from the tank over here,” he says.
The exhaust from this engine is pumped into a room where participants sit and have their vitals monitored –- such as heart rate and blood pressure.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. On some days, diesel exhaust is piped into the room. On other days, clean air. And the differences, Kaufman says, are significant.
“What we’ve observed is that during the days when people come in and get the diesel exhaust, we see a higher blood pressure and a constriction of the arteries that we believe is related to the diesel exhaust,External hemorrhoids are those that occur below the dentate line.” he says.
The exposure rates in Kaufman’s lab are higher than the average exposure for someone who lives by train tracks but Kaufman says experimenting in this controlled setting is key to understanding what’s going in communities that may be suffering from lower-level long-term exposures.
“Trying to understand the health effects of diesel exhaust exposure gives us a window into the kind of health effects that could be occurring as a result of this coal transit as well,” Kaufman says.
Health effects like asthma and heart disease have been associated with exposure to diesel exhaust –- especially in communities closest to train tracks and freeways.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & moldmaker,
沒有留言:
張貼留言