Haze ‘a public health emergency’
A joint statement signed by 22 organisations has labelled Sydney’s poor air quality a ‘‘public health emergency’’ that requires urgent government action, as NSW braces for more smoke and a looming heatwave.
Released by the Climate and Health Alliance yesterday, with signatures from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, Public Health Association of Australia and 19 other organisations, the statement said ‘‘there is no safe level of air pollution’’.
Hazardous pollution levels are linked to ‘‘premature births, low birth weight babies, impaired lung development in children, asthma, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer,’’ the statement said.
It urges NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison to show leadership and ‘‘implement measures to help alleviate the health and climate crisis’’ – including the development of a national strategy on climate and health.
Sydney and other parts of NSW are bracing for another week of smoke haze, combined with temperatures in some areas soaring well into the 40s as a heatwave sweeps the state from Wednesday.
That forecast is prompting NSW Health to advise vulnerable groups to plan ahead and if possible to stay indoors, preferably with airconditioning or a fan.
But NSW Health director of health protection, Jeremy McAnulty, said despite the ‘‘concerning’’ short-term effects of bushfire smoke, ‘‘we wouldn’t expect these sorts of occurrences to lead to any long-term chronic health problems’’. He said Sydney’s air quality, notwithstanding the bushfires, was ‘‘generally very good’’.
On Sunday, air quality hit ‘‘hazardous’’ levels again in Camden, Campbelltown and Liverpool, while it was ‘‘very poor’’ in the north-west and ‘‘poor’’ in the city’s east.
Last Tuesday, Sydney’s air pollution soared to levels 11 times higher than the ‘‘hazardous’’ threshold as thick bushfire smoke seeped into buildings, and emergency departments were inundated with twice the average number for a single day this time of year.
NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay has accused Berejiklian of ‘‘neglecting her responsibilities’’ during Tuesday’s heavy smoke haze.
Ahead of this week’s forecast heatwave, she said the Premier and Health Minister Brad Hazzard should personally provide daily pollution warnings, make available urgent additional resources to hospitals, and launch a public health awareness campaign.
‘‘People require public health information so they can make basic decisions,’’ McKay said.
‘‘Should they be wearing a face mask? Is it fine to sleep with the windows open? Should I let my kids run around in the park?
‘‘This is what people are saying to me at everything from backyard barbecues to school assembly morning teas – why aren’t there air quality warnings and where is Gladys Berejiklian?’’
NSW AMA president KeanSeng Lim said the combination of hazardous air quality and increasing heatwave days was ‘‘likely to see increased stress on the health system’’.
Lim said he ‘‘fully supports the sentiment’’ of the CAHA statement, and there is ‘‘no simple answer’’ to managing the health effects of climate change.
‘‘There’s no question that the current air quality issue with the unprecedented number of days with hazardous air quality is causing harm right now and possibly into the future. We really don’t know what the effect of this could be on developing lungs in years to come,’’ he said. – Nine