Air pollution and infant mortality: evidence from the expansion of natural gas infrastructure

We examine the impact of widespread adoption of natural gas as a source of fuel on infant mortality in Turkey, using variation across provinces and over time in the intensity of natural gas utilisation. Our estimates indicate that the expansion of natural gas infrastructure has resulted in a significant decrease in the rate of infant mortality. Specifically, a one-percentage point increase in natural gas intensity – measured by the rate of subscriptions to natural gas services – would cause the infant mortality rate to decrease by 4%, which would translate into approximately 348 infant lives saved in 2011 alone.

Investigating the issue of pollution in the micro-scale design of mega-cities : a case study of Enghelab Street, Tehran

Today there is a growing concern about urbanization and its impact on environmental pollution, which threatens human health and quality of life especially in mega cities. The mega city of Tehran, the capital of Iran, deals with various types of pollution. Although a large body of research has highlighted the significance of study on urban pollution in mega cities, only a few studies have addressed the issue at the micro scale. However, most of the research is restricted to air and noise pollution, whereas visual pollution as an important type of pollution that can be interpreted more deeply on a micro-scale, has been neglected. This study aims to evaluate some of the major issues of environmental pollution in Tehran by focusing on the micro-scale of the street. Therefore, as the central part of Tehran is one of the most affected divisions in the city, Enghelab Street has been selected as the case study for this research. This paper argues that identification and implementation of pollution mitigating strategies in Tehran’s master plan is not responsive enough to the whole city. This study of Enghelab Street reveals that policy making strategies for decreasing pollution should be initiated from micro-scale with further emphasis on psychological health. In the future, the lessons learned from the case study of Enghelab will help other major cities in developing countries to combat pollution through initiating from most affected districts in small scale.

Data quality issues in the GIS modelling of air pollution and cardiovascular mortality in Bangalore

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world's number one cause of mortality. Research in recent years has begun to illustrate a significant association between CVD and air pollution. As most of these studies employed traditional statistics, cross-sectional or meta-analysis methods, a study undertaken by the authors was designed to investigate how a geographical information system (GIS) could be used to develop a more efficient spatio-temporal method of analysis than the currently existing methods mainly based on statistical inference. Using Bangalore, India, as a case study, demographic, environmental and CVD mortality data was sought from the city. However, critical deficiencies in the quality of the environmental data and mortality records were identified and quantified. This paper discusses the shortcomings in the quality of mortality data, together with the development of a framework based on WHO guidelines to improve the defects, henceforth considerably improving data quality.

The study of agricultural non-point source pollution control policy system

As the agricultural non-point source pollution(ANPSP) has become the most significant threat for water environmental deterioration and lake eutrophication in China, more and more scientists and technologists are focusing on the control countermeasure and pollution mechanism of agricultural non-point source pollution. The unreasonable rural production structure and limited scientific management measures are the main reasons for acute ANSPS problems in China. At present, the problem for pollution control is a lack of specific regulations, which affects the government's management efficiency. According to these characteristics and problems, this paper puts forward some corresponding policies. The status of the agricultural non-point source pollution of China is analyzed, and ANSPS prevention and control model is provided based on governance policy, environmental legislation, technical system and subsidy policy. At last, the case analysis of Qiandao Lake is given, and an economic policy is adopted based on its situation.

White-faced storm-petrels Pelagodroma marina predated by gulls as biological monitors of plastic pollution in the pelagic subtropical northeast atlantic

Marine plastic pollution is rapidly growing and is a source of major concern. Seabirds often ingest plastic debris and are increasingly used as biological monitors of plastic pollution. However, virtually no studies have assessed plastics in seabirds in the deep subtropical North Atlantic. We investigated whether remains of white-faced storm-petrels (WFSP) present in gull pellets could be used for biomonitoring. We analysed 263 pellets and 79.0% of these contained plastic debris originating in the digestive tract of WFSP. Pellets with no bird prey did not contain plastics. Most debris were fragments (83.6%) with fewer plastic pellets (8.2%). Light-coloured plastics predominated (71.0%) and the most frequent polymer was HDPE (73.0%). Stable isotopes in toe-nails of WFSP containing many versus no plastics did not differ, indicating no individual specialisation leading to differential plastic ingestion. We suggest WFSP in pellets are highly suitable to monitor the little known pelagic subtropical Northeast Atlantic.