World Environment Day : Cars choking and killing us with ozone

KUALA LUMPUR: Look out of your window. On a good day, you’ll have a nice view, but chances are your view will be obscured by smog, caused largely by vehicle emissions.

From the first day a car is on the road till it is abandoned, usually about 20 years later, it gulps 80,000 to 100,000 litres of fuel. While the emissions from one car might not be much, multiply this by the seven million cars on the road every day and the results are horrific.Add to this, the 500,000 new cars that hit the roads each year, increasing the ground-level ozone produced by their exhaust fumes.

Experts say the only way to reduce hazardous ground level ozone is to switch to public transportation. Just doing that reduces ground level pollution by a factor of 10 for those travelling by bus, and 200 by LRT.A study by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia transport expert Prof Dr Rahim Mat Noor showed that ground level ozone in Kuala Lumpur increased by 203 per cent over nine years.

"If motorists, especially in the Klang Valley, do not switch to public transportation, then the level of ground level ozone will become harmful to humans," he said, adding that levels were on the rise in other parts of the country as well. Unlike ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere, caused by greenhouse gases, ground level ozone is caused by air pollution at ground level. It is a by-product of the chemicals released from car exhausts, and it is the prime ingredient of urban smog.

Heat and sun play a crucial role in the formation of ground level ozone, a particular danger in tropical cities like Kuala Lumpur. His analysis showed ground level ozone was increasing at a rate of 22.6 per cent per year. "Our estimates show that ground level ozone will soon increase from 30 parts per billion (ppb) to 91 ppb. By 2010, it will go up to 114 ppb."Each part per billion represents a dot out of a billion dots of sand. He added that health problems such as asthma and other upper respiratory tract problems could increase when the ground ozone level hits 50 ppb.

Ground level ozone is highly caustic, and prolonged exposure to elevated levels can damage lung tissues, causing respiratory problems and decreasing lung function. "Short-term exposure can result in choking, coughing, burning eyes, and nasal and respiratory irritation," Rahim said. "Repeated exposure can diminish the body’s ability to fight off respiratory infections, and may be linked to the scarring of lung tissue." Using public transport would help to reduce the production of ground level ozone, he added."Global warming is here and the effects are scary. People should sacrifice a small bit of comfort to save the earth."