According to André Bélisle, president of the Quebec Association for the Fight against Atmospheric Pollution, people with respiratory or heart problems are more at risk and should be more careful.
So what is needed is to avoid being outside and breathing these particles. You have to let the weather and the wind cleanse the atmosphere, if you want. It will be done anyway fairly quickly, but in the meantime, we must avoid going outside, exercising, where we would become even more victim. [des impacts du smog]. If, for example, we cycle a lot, and we are short of breath and we breathe twice as fast at a higher rate, we absorb twice as many pollutants
, he explains.
Smog is a condensed fog of air pollutants, either from industrial sources or from forest fires. The air is filled with quite fine particles, which are inhaled and become embedded in the lungs.
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Young people are also more affected by smog, according to Mr. Bélisle. As they breathe faster, they inhale more pollutants as well.
Effects on water
When there are many forest fires, the air is not the only element that can be contaminated, according to Pierre Gosselin, medical consultant for the Institut de santé publique du Québec and professor at Laval University.
Afterwards, there is all the runoff from these fires that will lead, again, to pollution of the waterways. So, ultimately, we have to pay attention to the quality of the water, and that once again includes the heavy metals that are present in the environment and which will ultimately end up in waterways.
, describes Mr. Gosselin.
Despite the efforts of forest firefighters, several fires are not under control in Northwestern Ontario.
Photo: Twitter / Ontario Wildfires
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The Ministry of the Environment and the municipalities are responsible for monitoring the quality of their water.
Longer exposure, however, could be very harmful to people’s health. Chronic exposure, so a little bit every day and from time to time a peak as we currently experience in a good part of Quebec, it is sure that it is a huge problem. The number one risk in Canada from the environment is air pollution from all sources
, describes the medical consultant for the Institut de santé publique du Québec.
Chronic problems are especially developed because of air pollution caused by industry and automobiles, believes François Reeves.
Photo : iStock / ssuaphoto
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According to Dr. François Reeves, intervention cardiologist at CHUM and associate professor of medicine at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal, chronic problems linked to forest fires are quite rare, since the episodes are quite short, even if they are intense. Chronic problems are therefore mostly developed because of air pollution caused by industry and automobiles, among others.
Health Canada experts estimate that each year in Canada, there are 15000excess deaths, but above all there are for 120billions of dollars each year spent on health care disability due to air pollution alone “,” text “:” The effects add up, because there is already pollution year after year […] In total, our Health Canada experts estimate that each year in Canada, there are 15,000 excess deaths, but above all there are 120 billion dollars each year spent on health care disability due only to air pollution “}}”>The effects add up, because there is already pollution year after year. […] In total, our Health Canada experts estimate that every year in Canada there are 15,000 excess deaths, but most importantly there is $ 120 billion annually spent on disability health care due solely to air pollution.
, explains Dr. Reeves.
Recommendations in Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Regional Public Health monitors the concentration of pollutants in the air, and did not judge the rate to be high enough to require people to stay indoors. If that had been the case, she would have issued a press release with recommendations.
Stéphane Bessette, team leader and environmental health advisor for the Public Health department of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Integrated Health and Social Services Center, affirms that there were no hospitalizations in the regions in the past week that are believed to have been caused by smog.
I checked the air quality index today [lundi 19 juillet], we have seen in the last few days that the concentrations of fine particles were on the rise. I would say that generally smog is made up of ozone and fine particles, but the ozone concentrations were relatively low. So the smog of the last few days was mainly due to fine particles which are currently falling since this morning on the three points where we have data in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, that is to say Senneterre, Rouyn-Noranda and Témiscamingue.
, he explains.
He suggests that people who want to be better informed look at the air quality index of the Ministry of the Environment. If it is considered bad by Environment Canada, you can limit yourself outside outings and physical activities.
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