The air is spectacularly dirty this week. But here\u0027s a little context on local airborne pollutants over time.
It’s key to understand that this was nothing like ordinary air pollution. Many air pollutants in our region are gases. Our air this week has tiny particles of burned stuff, basically soot, which can lodge in our lungs, unlike gases that we exhale. Thewarns that wood smoke can cause breathing trouble for people with asthma and can even provoke heart attacks and stroke in those with cardiovascular illness. The main advice from EPA and others: stay indoors.
In the early 1990s, I used to see a lot more days when our air pollution reached the “moderate” level Much of this coal was burned to produce electricity, and smelters such as Inco , Falconbridge Nickel and Algoma Steel were also heavy users.
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