The Libby Valley also has high levels of particulate pollution, mainly from the smoke of wood-burning stoves, which Dr. Flynn said can compound respiratory problems.
In urban areas identified by the World Health Organisation as having harmful levels of particulate pollution, nearly half were found to be monitoring only one or two schools.
THERE'S something in the air besides fall leaves and a cool breeze: high levels of particulate matter and ground-level ozone.
Dr Benjamin Barratt, from the group, told the Times that buses and cabs have moved to diesel in order to reduce levels of particulate pollution caused primarily by petrol engines.
The researchers, who based their conclusions on mathematical models and rainfall data from scores of weather stations in the region, attributed the change to high levels of particulate pollution.
The UK Air site, part of the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), is supposed to provide live estimates of air quality across the country, including levels of particulate matter and other pollutants, as well as health advice.
Poor people in the city are far more likely to live in high-traffic areas and be exposed to high levels of particulate matter from diesel and gasoline exhaust.
An increase in the percentage of urban populations in Europe being exposed to levels of particulate matter from 2010 to 2011 suggested some backsliding, the report said.
These engines typically discharge high levels of particulate matter (soot), reactive nitrogen compounds (commonly designated NOx), and odour compared with spark-ignition engines.
It was unclear exactly what was responsible for the rise in levels of particulate matter, beyond the factors that regularly sully the air here.
Not only were there were much higher levels of particulate matter, but higher levels of bacteria associated with the sewage and oil in the water, they said.
