Tire particles, perfumes, metals? Widespread study of Toronto Air sees what we are breathing

There is no issue pointing to a fresh, scary afternoon walking under Fort York Bulleward, scientist Elizabeth Galarneu near the possible sources of air pollution.

Manicure lawn and flower bed? A potential source of air pesticides.

Nearby high-growing apartment buildings? A source of pollutants, cleaner and individual care products are not being mentioned from both heating and cooling – the residues of which can go down to the road level.

Charcoal Barbecue, Restaurant Stove, Fire Pitts, Squiling Tires, Near Highway? They all contribute to air torrentonian breathing.

Now, in an intensive study conducted by Galaranu, the first glimpse and more than 100 other scientists who saw the winter air quality in Toronto highlighted the air pollutants measured rarely across the city, such as microplastic, brake wear chemicals and metals.

“We have done this study to see the entire mixture coming in contact with people in cities, as well as how it varies from the neighborhood to the neighborhood,” Garlornu said, which works for the environment and climate change Canada.

Researchers did not expect to see Aqhi more ‘

As a major investigator on the study of winter air pollution in Toronto, Galaranue led a group, including contributors from 11 universities, who collected air samples from across the city in six weeks from January to March 2024.

Winter is a “generally understood part of the year”, known for the cleaner air compared to the smokey summer, Galaranue said – make the initial results of their work more surprisingly.

“We thought we would see the low concentrations of pollutants”, Galaranue said. Instead, he saw several examples of pollutants going to moderate or high risk levels at the air quality health index (AQHI).

“This air quality health index, I did not expect it to cross it in winter,” he said.

Another surprise? Degree of variation in air pollution depending on the neighborhood.

Monitoring sites were placed in Toronto, Piercene Airport in the west, from the University of York and East to Toronto Scarboro University. A site was also placed 275 meters in the air on the CN Tower.

“Some pollutants are quite similar across the city,” Galaranue said. “But others are sometimes 40 times more than the average where you are watching.”

The nuances of air pollution where worse-and to what extent-will emerge in the year when the results of the study are fully published.

Looking for a pattern

To prepare for that publication, Galaronyu and his associates will now start spying on a large scale: determining where the pollutants are coming from, health effects for people affect them to breathe, and factors such as income affect the exposure.

“The data sets we are producing here is going to help us see some patterns in Toronto, and then expand it to other cities in Canada,” he said.

The upcoming analysis on health effects has attracted the attention of Jeffrey Brook, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health of Toronto University, whose work on air pollution has been quoted by swapit researchers.

“How can it be that in places like Canada where our (transport emissions) levels are generally considered to be the lowest in the world, we can continue to see health effects?” He said. “This is a big secret, not only to Canada, but to the world.”

In Mississaga, environmental activist Rahul Mehta is also eager to fully look at the results of the swapit.

Mehta, which leads an organization called Sustainable Mississaga, says that poor air quality affects both of them at work, where he encourages new people to try active transport, and personally, as he deal with allergies and mild asthma.

“Knowing these risks … I think it is going to help us, it is going to protect us and it may be that maybe we should empower some better rules from the government,” he said.

Toronto Public Health, which is a partner on the swapit study, said that its results promise to be useful for exactly the same reason, telling the CBC torto in an email that the study results will provide “valuable evidence to direct local policies and functions.”