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Flu Is ‘Prevalent’ Unvaccinated Health Workers Must Mask Up

Flu Is ‘Prevalent’ Unvaccinated Health Workers Must Mask Up

(TIMES UNION) State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker has declared the flu to be ”prevalent” which means that health care workers need to have been vaccinated or wear protective masks when coming in contact with patients. This has been the case for more than two years now.

There are confirmed cases in 44 counties as well as New York City.

Here are the details:

New York State Health…

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China’s Carbon Emissions May Have Peaked Already

China’s Carbon Emissions May Have Peaked Already

By Bobby Magill

China’s industrialized economy is transforming itself from one heavily reliant on coal and steel production to a greener one that uses less energy. But as studies trickle in painting a picture of what that means for the climate, there is a lot of uncertainty about when China’s carbon dioxide emissions will reach their peak.

A team of London scientists thinks it may have an answer:…

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Unprecedented Spike in CO2 Levels in 2015

Unprecedented Spike in CO2 Levels in 2015

The annual growth rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose more in 2015 than scientists have ever seen in a single year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.

It was the fourth year in a row that carbon dioxide concentrations grew by more than 2 parts per million, with an annual growth rate of 3.05 parts per million in 2015. ­The spike comes in the same year…

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Carbon dioxide is rising at its fastest rate in 66 million years

Carbon dioxide is rising at its fastest rate in 66 million years

Humans are releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide at about 10 times faster than the most rapid event of anytime in at least the past 66 million years. This leaves us without a historical analogue to guide predictions for how climate change will affect the world in coming years, a new study has found.

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, comes about a week after news…

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Milan wants to pay people to bicycle to work

Milan wants to pay people to bicycle to work

By Kate Yoder

As the Starbucks empire makes humble plans to open its first shop in Italy, the city it’s moving to — Milan — plans to give a different sort of bucks away.

To combat air pollution, Milan officials hope to pay commuters to bike instead of drive to work. The Guardian reports that the system will be based loosely on the French program tested in 2014, which paid employees 25 Euro cents…

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More than 5 million people will die from a frightening cause: Breathing

More than 5 million people will die from a frightening cause: Breathing

About 5.5 million people around the world die prematurely every year from breathing polluted air, and the majority of those deaths are occurring in China and India, where factories and coal-fired power plants are fueling economic growth, according to a report released Friday.

The authors said the findings show that disease from air and household pollution ranks as the number two cause of death…

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CO2 Emissions Are Causing Earth to ‘Hyperventilate’

Every year, plants inhale and exhale carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s a natural seasonal cycle that has played out over millennia.

But as humans emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) by burning fossil fuels, the steady rhythm is being replaced by a more erratic cycle as plants race to keep pace with all the new CO2 in the atmosphere. New research shows just how much that extra CO2 is changing…

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The Worst Polluters Are In The Most Vulnerable Neighborhoods, Study Finds

The Worst Polluters Are In The Most Vulnerable Neighborhoods, Study Finds

Not all polluters are created equal.

Just five percent of industrial polluters account for 90 percent of toxic emissions in the United States, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters last week.

What’s more, these “super polluters” tend to cluster in low-income and minority communities, putting poor people and people of color at an “exponentially elevated…

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Bad Air Quality Kills Five Times As Many People As Bad Water

Bad Air Quality Kills Five Times As Many People As Bad Water

As China has become richer, it’s paid a big environmental price. One in five deaths there are now attributable to poor quality air. The country ranks last among 180 for outdoor air pollution, according to a new report. Half the population lives with air unsafe by international standards. China is choking on its success.

Yale’s Environmental Performance Index shows how economic development both…

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As Washington state decides on stronger toxics law, residents are breathing flame retardants

As Washington state decides on stronger toxics law, residents are breathing flame retardants

A new generation of chemicals added to furniture, building insulation and baby products like car seats to slow the spread of flames are escaping into air at higher levels than previously thought, according to a new study out of Washington state.

The findings come as Washington lawmakers decide on bolstering flame retardant bans. The state was one of the first to ban an earlier generation of…

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Affects of air pollution on the skin

Affects of air pollution on the skin

New research shows the affects pollution has on our skin. Experts have long known pollution is linked to increased asthma, bronchitis, and can even lead to lung cancer. But, new research says the damage could be right at our fingertips. In the desert southwest, residents are no stranger to the sun, and many people out working or playing in it – including commuters on the road – are affected.…

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Worst Kind of Heart Attack Linked to Air Pollution, Experts Say

Worst Kind of Heart Attack Linked to Air Pollution, Experts Say

MURRAY, Utah (GOOD 4 Utah)- Medical experts from Intermountain Medical Center met Wednesday morning to discuss recent findings linking increased short term air pollution in the Beehive state to serious health problems.

“It primarily effects the worst kind of heart attack, which is STEMI heart attack,  where there is a very severe affect on specific vessels of the heart that can cause the major…

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More people dying early from air pollution in England

More people dying early from air pollution in England

The number of premature deaths attributed to particulate pollution has risen,government figures show.

According to Public Health England,the percentage of premature deaths attributable to minute particles known as PM2.5s rose to 5.3% in 2013 in England from 5.1% in 2012. The death rate in London rose to 6.7% from 6.6%. The figures follow significant improvements in air quality across England in…

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Air pollution and traffic fumes tied to infertility risk

Air pollution and traffic fumes tied to infertility risk

Women who live close to major highways where the air is polluted by traffic exhaust fumes may be slightly more likely to have fertility problems than women who live further away where the air is cleaner, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers followed more than 36,000 women from 1993 until 2003 and analyzed air pollution and traffic exhaust near their homes to see if what they breathed might be…

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Ozone levels elevated in presence of wildfire smoke

Ozone levels elevated in presence of wildfire smoke

For those living with the threat to life and property from wildfires, Colorado State University scientists have some more bad news: Wildfire smoke seems to elevate levels of ozone, a nasty air pollutant with proven adverse health effects.

The influence of wildfire smoke on ozone levels during summer months in the United States is not well understood. CSU atmospheric science researchers took a…

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Air pollution is now a global 'public health emergency', according to the World Health Organisation

Air pollution is now a global ‘public health emergency’, according to the World Health Organisation

Air pollution in London causes thousands of early deaths every year ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that air pollution is now a “public health emergency” across the globe, in a stark warning about the dangers of unclean air in our cities.

The warning comes at a time when air pollution is high on the agenda – in December, Chinese authorities issued

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What is China doing to tackle its air pollution?

What is China doing to tackle its air pollution?

The air in much of China is so bad the government has repeatedly declared “war” on it. The enemy are tiny particulates which spew forth from countless cars, coal-fired power stations and steel plants to create a dense, putty-coloured smog.

Beijing recently issued its first pollution ‘red alert‘, closing schools, factories and construction sites, and ordering half of all private cars off the road.

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