Quebec doctors call for national clean air strategy

The Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment (AQME) publishes a “Reference framework for healthy air” and calls for an overhaul of government management of air quality.

The initiative is supported by 14 medical associations, professional orders, unions and other organizations, including the College of Physicians of Quebec.

The twenty-page document published by the AQME emphasizes that even if Quebec has made major progress over the past two decades to improve air quality, air pollution remains an important issue.

Based on Health Canada data, the AQME states that in Quebec, air pollution is associated with 4,000 premature deaths per year, for annual health costs estimated at $30 billion.

“What is emerging more and more in studies in general is that we have underestimated atmospheric pollution,” indicated Dr. Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, president of the AQME, before listing a range of diseases caused by pollutants in the air.

“From childhood, a greater susceptibility to developing asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders has been documented, in adulthood, cases of early-onset dementia, an increase in all-cause mortality, cardiovascular diseases have been documented, accelerated aging of the skin, diabetes…The list is really long,” explained the doctor and co-author of the document.

Update toxicity thresholds

The AQME is asking the Quebec government in particular to update the toxicity thresholds for certain air pollutants.

“The World Health Organization revised its air quality standards in 2021” and “for several pollutants, the toxicity thresholds are lower than what we thought”, therefore more dangerous, explained the president from AQME to The Canadian Press.

This is the case for fine particles, also called PM2.5, which are emitted in the form of dust and which come from vehicle exhaust gases, agriculture, forest fires or the combustion of wood, fuel oil or coal, among others.

According to the AQME, fine particles of 2.5 micrometers in diameter are particularly harmful to humans, because their small size allows them to be absorbed by the respiratory tract, to circulate in the blood system and to accumulate. in the organs of the human body.

“The World Health Organization estimates that the daily average should be at the maximum level of 15 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3). But in Quebec, we are still at 30 µg/m3 authorized as a daily average,” lamented Dr. Pétrin-Desrosiers.

As knowledge about the health impacts of air pollution evolves, “the fight against air pollution should be modulated continuously, based on new existing data that becomes available over time,” according to the framework drafted by the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Exceeding standards and register

Some companies have authorizations to emit pollutants beyond permitted limits, such as the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda, which notably emits arsenic, lead and nickel. However, the AQME is concerned that several of the manufacturers who hold permits authorizing emissions of atmospheric contaminants beyond prescribed standards “are located in regions where air quality remains poor between 20 and 30 % of days”.

Hence the importance, according to doctors, of better informing the population “in real time of the real levels of each contaminant” in comparison with the levels considered harmful.

One of the problems, underlines the AQME, is that access to information relating to these companies and the improvement plans to which they are subject “remains difficult to access since a request for access to information must be filed”.

This issue of access to information for the population could be resolved by the establishment of the public register of environmental information, provided for by law, but which has been overdue for years.

Section 118.5 of the Environment Quality Act stipulates that the Minister of the Environment must keep a public register containing a wide range of information on industrial projects and activities.

“This register would allow the population automatic and continuous access to information on the presumed environmental impact of development projects pending, or having received ministerial authorization,” underlines the AQME document.

The Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment hopes that the Air Reference Framework published on Tuesday will contribute to the development and implementation of a “National Healthy Air Strategy”.

This should, according to doctors, include “new air quality standards, an overhaul of the Air Quality Index as well as a robust and systematic air quality management program.”