Clean Air Day - Experts meet to explore ways to assess health costs of air pollution

SAINT JOHN - June 5, 2002 - Government representatives and stakeholders met today in Saint John to explore ways to calculate the health costs associated with air pollution and to determine how this information might be used to shape future environmental policy.

The workshop, entitled "Health Costs of Air Pollution: A Preliminary Modelling Workshop", was hosted by Environment Canada Atlantic Region. This meeting was an important early step to bring stakeholders with a shared interest in air quality together to explore a variety of existing air pollution and human health assessment models which could be used in Atlantic Canada.

"What we know already is that more than 5000 Canadians die prematurely from air pollution related diseases each year," said Bill Appleby, Regional Director of the Meteorological Service of Canada - Atlantic. "What we don’t yet have a good grasp of is the broad view of the impact of air quality in Atlantic Canada . A good health damage model will help provide guidance to decision-makers on how to spend limited resources in improving regional air quality and in mitigating the impacts of air pollution."

During the workshop participants heard presentations from a variety of guest speakers with expertise in the fields of economics, air pollution and health. In order to find a model appropriate to use in the Atlantic Region, consultants working for Environment Canada have completed a comprehensive review of a number of existing models that have been used around the world. The ultimate goal is to find a suitable model to use in a pilot study to determine the health costs of air pollution exposure in Southern New Brunswick.

"One of our main goals in organizing this workshop was to draw together a diverse and multi-disciplinary group with a common interest in clean air that could function as an effective team," explained Bill Appleby. "Then, in collaboration with Environment Canada, this group could take on the next steps of developing and applying an appropriate air quality health assessment model in this region."

For more information contact:

Bill Appleby
Regional Director Atlantic Region
Meteorological Service of Canada
Environment Canada
(902)426-9122

Additional useful links:

• Environment Canada’s National Clean Air web site
  
  
• The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Air and Radiation web site