Educational Campaigns

BC Physicians join Foundation in clean air project

The British Columbia Medical Association is co-sponsoring a joint Air Issues Project with the David Suzuki Foundation. This is the second province in a nation-wide campaign to increase public awareness of the harmful health effects of air pollution and global warming.

The Air Issues Project includes the following elements:
1. A province wide Clearing the Air poster and leaflet campaign
2. An Evening with David Suzuki for physicians interested in and working on these issues.

Burning oil, coal, gas and wood create a serious health hazard. That is the message the Clearing the Air project aims to take to patients and doctors, with a colourful poster (419K) and informative leaflet (381K) sent to 8,000 members of the BCMA.

The project is based on the ground-breaking report Taking Our Breath Away: the health effects of air pollution and climate change written by two Canadian medical epidemiologists.
View Executive Summary (144K) | Full Report (677K)

Air pollution hits hardest at children, the elderly and those with heart and respiratory problems such as asthma.

How smog and air pollution causes damage to the human body.

Cells lining the lungs and blood vessel.

Pollution particles are inhaled and approach the cells.

Some particles get into the cells lining the lung causing further inflammation that can hinder our breath.

Particles can be attacked by macrophages, part of your lungs' defense system.

In some instances, toxic particles can destroy macrophages.

Particles may also enter the bloodstream. Together with inflammatory cells from the bone marrow, they cause serious effects on the nervous system as well as your heart and lungs.

Here's what air pollution can do to our health:

Increase and aggravate asthma

Create disease in the airways of children

Increase respiratory illness in children

Damage the lungs

Increase deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular disease

Increase hospital admissions for lung and heart conditions

Cause chest pain and nausea

Cause shortness of breath and (faster) laboured breathing

Can permanently changed lung structure

View British Columbia Air Pollution and Climate Change Fact Sheet - Critical Facts (94 KB)

View list of BC communities that exceeded safe air pollution levels in 1998 (9 KB)

Global warming will test our limits with hotter weather that will worsen air pollution. Yet there is good news - if we reduce the emissions that cause air pollution, we will reduce the impacts on our health and on the atmosphere.

Here's what you can do:

Write or fax federal Health Minister Alan Rock, or Prime Minister Jean Chretien to tell them your concerns. Send mail to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6.

Climate Action Team

Want to learn more? Explore these sites. (The site link will open in a new browser window, please close the window to return to the David Suzuki Foundation site)

Smog Advisory Health Messaging for Physicians and Patients messaging

Clearing the Air: Air Quality Co-benefits of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (PDF 120K)

IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

WHO’s environmental health reports

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment CAPE

Read about solutions

View video showing how the burning of coal, oil, and gas harms our lungs.