• Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, in Gironde, in Loiret… The “information threshold” for fine particle pollution has been exceeded almost everywhere in France in recent days.

  • Fine particle pollution is particularly observable in winter, boosted by heating consumption and stable air masses.

  • If European countries act to reduce this pollution, in particular by setting up low emission zones (ZFE) and by promoting the electric car, more than 300,000 Europeans die because of fine particles each year, recalls Cathy Clerbaux, researcher interviewed by

    20 Minutes

    .

It's cold, it's hard to see the Eiffel Tower, and you have trouble breathing?

Do not look far for the cause: fine particle pollution alerts have been linked in recent days in France.

In Toulouse, Paris, Lyon, Gironde and even in Loiret, measures are being taken to try to make the air more breathable.

But how to explain the recurrence of these episodes of pollution and the fact that they affect many cities at the same time?

What are the health risks ?

And above all, can we avoid them? 

20 Minutes

helps you see more clearly in this fog.

Why have fine particle pollution alerts been increasing over the past few days?

Since the beginning of the month, announcements from cities signaling that the "information threshold" for fine particle pollution has been exceeded has germinated faster than clusters of coronaviruses. Cathy Clerbaux, CNRS research director at the Atmosphere and Space Observations Laboratory (Latmos), tells

20 Minutes

that fine particle pollution is a characteristic of winter. “It is linked to three phenomena: transport, heating and industrial activity. As fine particles are emitted during combustion, "everything is combined with the depths of winter", notes the physicist.

But the cold alone does not explain these episodes of pollution, otherwise the thresholds would be exceeded for three months.

The weather actually plays a major role.

“If the air masses are stable, there is no wind, no rain, pollution accumulates,” explains Cathy Clerbaux.

The Belgian specialist also notes that these episodes of pollution are “easy to predict”, as they are directly linked to this meteorological stability.

Is there a health risk in the short or medium term?

Inevitably, breathing polluted air is never really very good.

Worse, fine particles are, contrary to what their name suggests, too large to be eliminated quickly, sinking deep into the lungs.

The PM10, at the origin of the triggering of the "information threshold" in Greater Paris [fixed at 50 micrograms per cubic meter, against 65 measured on Tuesday and 80 for the alert threshold], thus have a size of cell order.

This is also why we "see" this pollution, which forms a light fog, unlike ozone pollution for example.

Also, “the elderly and the most fragile are more affected”, notes Cathy Clerbaux, who cites asthmatics for example.

"This affects the respiratory and cardiovascular system", pollution being "one more element to manage" for the body.

For these people, an episode of pollution can represent a deadly overload.

"When there is an episode of pollution, we observe an increase in hospital admissions and an excess of deaths", points out the researcher.

According to the European Environment Agency, fine particle pollution caused 307,000 premature deaths in 2019.

However, we must remain cautious about the long-term consequences.

“It adds to the rest but I would not say that cancers are caused by this pollution”, advances Cathy Clerbaux, evoking one factor among others.

On the other hand, “it has a real impact in China” where the rates are much higher during this kind of pollution episodes.

Can we avoid these episodes of pollution in the future?

Yes, and European countries have been working on this for several years, in particular with the incentive to switch from highly polluting diesel vehicles to electric ones.

"But you have to be careful to produce electricity without producing fine particles", tackles the Belgian researcher.

We are not targeting anyone here, but Germany and its coal-fired power plants is not an example to follow.

Several cities have also announced the upcoming establishment of low emission zones (ZFE), where traffic will be reserved for the least polluting vehicles.

The series of alerts in French cities, however, has a misleading side: compared to the 1990s, "there are actually fewer days of pollution than before, but we talk about it more", notes Cathy Clerbaux, thanks to the progression tools and awareness of the dangers of pollution. 

Toulouse

Toulouse: Pollution sets in, Tisséo draws his unlimited Planet ticket at 3 euros

Bordeaux

Gironde: Reduced speed on the roads due to a new episode of particle pollution

  • Fine particles

  • Weather report

  • Air pollution

  • Pollution

  • Planet

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on Twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print