How to Avoid Vehicle Pollution When You ’re Stuck in Traffic

Most non-electric motor vehicles emit multiple airborne pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons, and ultrafine chemical particles. Breathing in these pollutants can cause or contribute to a wide range of health problems, from heart and lung disease to neurological, reproductive and immune system dysfunction. Studies have repeatedly found that people who live near busy roadways are at elevated risks for these health issues. Young children, the elderly, and people with lung disease are especially vulnerable to vehicle-emitted pollution. But anyone who spends a lot of time commuting and sitting in heavy traffic—especially on hot, sunny days, when heat and sunlight speed up the chemical reactions that produce ozone and other airborne pollutants—faces a heightened risk for air-pollution-related illness. Rolling up the windows can help keep out some of that noxious air, and a car’s cabin filter and A/C settings can reduce the amount of pollutants that get into the vehicle. Most drivers are familiar with the filter that scrubs the air that’s pulled into a vehicle’s engine. (This is the one a mechanic inspects and offers to replace during a routine oil change.) But a cabin filter is something different. It’s usually located behind the glove box, and its job is to clean the air that the vehicle’s occupants breathe. But not all car cabin filters are created equal. In 2014, the journal Environmental Health published a study finding...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Air Pollution Science Source Type: news