Best of luck with it, Gembo.
@steveo Particulate filter sadly only works on physical particles, and does nothing to stop the various gases, such as nitrogen dioxide (v common from diesel engines), carbon monoxide and dioxide, etc.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
"we may need to rethink what is regarded as ‘normal’ in relation to our health"
(61 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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@gembo that sounds awful.
All the best for what I hope will be a speedy recovery.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Evans are trying to use the pollution to sell masks.
I used to have breathing problems in London.
Posted 11 years ago # -
At a glance I can see any mask on their website which claims to filter out vehicle emissions. They just talk about pollen and other "allogens".
Posted 11 years ago # -
If I was cycling a lot in heavy traffic, I'd probably wear one, just to catch the diesel particulates. But I'd rather just find a quieter route - particulate levels fall off quite quickly once you get away from their source.
A lot of effort has gone into reducing the emissions of petrol engines.*
It's a shame that diesel engines haven't had the same levels of attention - although maybe that is now starting to change.
*[let's not get into the perpetuation of the internal combustion engine and avoidance of alternatives by the oil/motor industries]
Posted 11 years ago # -
I saw guy wearing massive gas mask on Stenhouse path!?? Whilst cycling, must be getting hot.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"If I was cycling a lot in heavy traffic, I'd probably wear one, just to catch the diesel particulates."
I though part of the problem was that (some) particulates are so small that filters you can actually breath through don't catch them(?)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Indeed chdot, I stand corrected.
A quick bit of research shows that diesel particulates from exhausts are mainly in the 2.5 micron range.
Cycling masks don't even catch the stuff up at 10 microns.
So it would appear that they are simply a waste of time and money for protecting against traffic pollution.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"
Indeed chdot, I stand corrected.A quick bit of research shows that diesel particulates from exhausts are mainly in the 2.5 micron range.
"
Had a vain hope that filter technology had improved!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Best wishes Gembo... just catching up on your news.
Posted 11 years ago # -
What I'm unsure of is whether the stuff the masks do catch is worth filtering out. A few places online suggests that the mask's filters will be quite dirty after a few hours of city riding.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I used one in Glasgow as my mouth and nose used to fill with black gunk when I didn't. I reckoned it was worth it.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I remember something from a previous life about respirable particles. Isn't the point that the hairs in your nose are pretty good at picking out the larger particles of soot (hence Min's black nose) and that these therefore aren't that bad. The problem is the tiny particles that the hairs can't catch and which get right inside your lungs where they do the real damage.
So are the masks perhaps doing the job your nose can do anyway, but not helping with the one it can't.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Greenroofer - I've always believed that too.
@gembo really sorry to hear about this. Knew you'd been poorly, but not that it was that serious. Reminds me I need to go see GP about my cough that refuses to go away :(
Posted 11 years ago # -
I saw David Cameron on the news the other morning claiming the 'smog' was due to Saharan dust. The interviewer didn't challenge him on this at all!
A colleague of mine recently told me of how his car was due to fail it's MOT on emissions, so for a backhander the mechanic took the reading off a nearby car. Crazy world.
@Gembo. Get well soon. I doubt the cycling has contributed to your condition, but I am convinced that your increased fitness from it will vastly improve your recovery.Posted 11 years ago # -
I remember getting black snot when I lived in London (mid-1990s). Traffic and related pollution terrible then. A colleague used to commute in from Tooting on Northern Line (tube station 2 mins walk from office). He had terrible black snot every day, then contracted an eye infection which lasted for months. Combination of soot (tube tunnels), bacteria (tube trains) and stress blamed.
Don't recall ever having black snot in Edinburgh. Too windy.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Black snot in London, every time, also need to wash a lot more and wash your clothes a lot more as place is manky. Black snot in Dublin and Glasgow too but not to the same extent.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Skint down in that London in the 80s, I used to gather coin from small gaps between the seats on the tube
Hands blacker than black, dead giveaway street urchin style
Posted 11 years ago # -
Tube more manky than the mankiest manxman. As is the clockwork orange in Glasgow.
The light railway that plies sweetly from Camden to Richmond which you can take your bike on is cleaner. But relatively new. Richmond not manky, more swanky and nice cycling eg to Staines, shepperton (via passenger ferry you can take your bike on), windsor, Runnymede, dave gilmour's house boat studio, Maidenhead, Rolf harris's house!? Stanley Spencer village of Cookham etc. even the Brompton factory.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@ExcitableBoy there really was Saharan dust contributing to the smog problem...
Posted 11 years ago # -
@fimm, the Saharan dust just made the problem visible. Pollution is a big problem in London, has been for a long time. I recall some summers there if there was not much breeze my eyes would be stinging with the exhaust fumes on certain streets in north London.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I lived in central Paris for a couple of years, and I can confirm that their then policy of subsidising diesel fuel and encouraging city-centre driving did indeed turn your snot black.
You could tell when the August holiday started and the city emptied by the contents of your hankie. Incidentaly, in those pre-vélib days, cycling was not physically possible except on Sundays.
Posted 11 years ago # -
London is disgusting. I once had to throw away a pair of canvas shoes after visiting London as they quickly became ingrained with filth.
Posted 11 years ago # -
People in England getting very worried all of a sudden about the pollution they can see. We should all be more worried about the pollution we can't see. Even in the crisp, "clean" atmosphere of Edinburgh.
Posted 11 years ago # -
We should all be more worried about the pollution we can't see. Even in the crisp, "clean" atmosphere of Edinburgh.
Well, yes. Several Edinburgh streets in breach of air pollution regulations.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The solution to the diesel particulate problem:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/peter-jones-petrolheads-can-save-the-planet-1-3368504
"It will be down to people like you and me, if we have diesel cars, becoming petrolheads."
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Reducing private car usage is the perfect solution, but it is not going to happen to any significant extent. "
Why not?
Posted 11 years ago # -
@amir, you need this thread.
Posted 11 years ago # -
That's an interesting article but I doubt his conclusion would make any difference. As he mentions earlier almost all large vehicles, taxis, vans etc run diesel because it has a lower per mile cost.
How many of these are run by companies whose owners/shareholders care more about the nations health than their own bottom line? It's just a hunch but I feel that even if all private car owners switched to petrol overnight there would still be a huge problem with diesel particulates.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@gembo. You might appreciate this cycle blog - starring an empyema
Posted 11 years ago #
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