Is Hamilton's air quality bad for your health?

Lorna Moreau has won the chance to be an air quality guinea pig.
The McAnulty Boulevard retiree has advocated for better industrial pollution control for years, particularly during “black fallout” emissions from Hamilton steel plants in the mid-2000s.

But earlier this week, Moreau used her personal health story — and industry air quality data — to convince the city to investigate whether air pollution is harming residents in Hamilton's industrial neighbourhoods.
While overall city air pollution has improved in the past 10 years, Moreau said she and her neighbours still get “that burning eyes feeling” sitting on their verandas. They swap news about chronic coughs. Last month, Moreau was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a condition commonly associated with smokers.

“I don't smoke. I've never smoked. It was a bit of a shocker,” she said. “I truly believe … this is a problem with where I live.”
Hamilton monitors air quality more than most cities.
In addition to provincial monitoring information, public health has testing stations on and below the Mountain, and residents can look up real-time air quality data in the north of the city on the industry-run Hamilton Air Monitoring Network.

Results from a unique neighbourhood air pollution study released in January showed higher-than-average levels of fine particulate matter, lung-damaging molecules found in suspended dust, in the McAnulty area.
Moreau also showed councillors HAMN data for her neighbourhood, including spikes of fine particulate matter of almost 300 micrograms per cubic metre in March. The province calls air quality “very poor” when fine particulate matter exceeds 100 and warns even light outdoor activity can cause “serious respiratory effects.”
“It's great that we track (pollution). But the next question residents have is, what are we doing about it?” said Lynda Lukasik, head of Environment Hamilton.

Lukasik said she hopes the study will help the city and Ministry of Environment focus on the “low-hanging fruit” of pollution prevention such as industrial dust control. But an epidemiological study could also give ammunition to tighten air quality laws, she added.
Showing a cause-and-effect link “would be huge,” said Sam Merulla, the councillor who made the motion calling for the creation of an air quality task force. The city will also ask the Ministry of the Environment for cash for a pollution study.

Dr. Chris Mackie, associate medical officer of health, said the scope of the study is still up in the air. He hopes to bring a progress report to council before the end of the year.

Article written by the Spectator's Mathew Van Dongen