The neighborhood street festival in the german city of cologne for a day cause a band pedestrians and bicyclists are free to use the streets normally traffic clogs these roads and pollutes the air levels of find particulate matter and nitrogen oxides are high in town town cologne. Pediatrician christian during is trying to raise awareness of the problem. Imo your kids have a cigarette off of. The cigarette made of chewing gum symbolizes the invisible danger of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides it represents the 2 cigarettes with toxins during says cologne residents inhaled every day. He sees a lot of young patients with respiratory problems in his practice. Public in the us parker says for most who fish where there are pediatric practice is located nearby an area with heavy traffic. And weve observed an increase in the problems children have in the months when we get temperature inversions of this stuff and then the polluted air is trapped below and theres an increase in respiratory irritants from traffic concert particles from coal fired power plants children get diseases that are more severe and they need longer to recover we have to prescribe more medications. Its generally accepted that fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides pollute the air we breathe and can destroy our health the question is who is responsible. Fine particulates a small fragments of solid materials only could droplets suspended in the air they may contain contaminants such as sort of lead particulate matter is divided into 3 categories. The largest of these particles are a 10th of the width of a human hair this is the catch a great peak in 10 particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter and these relatively cause particles tend to stay in the respiratory tract refined matter that is particles less than 2. 00 microns in diameter make up the class pm 2. 00 and is small enough to penetrate the lungs ultra fine particles are less than 0 point one micron in diameter and they can enter the bloodstream if i think of flying and if the particles are small enough they get into the bloodstream thats a huge problem in small children whose immune defenses are still weak and there are uses to mr in training so to speak preparing for all the things that it will face later in life thats why kids generally have weak immune defenses in addition and ill show you here the long of a 12 month old child is still very very small thats a big problem for pediatricians in the us and with the whole bit. Pollution affects the most vulnerable the sick the elderly and children like me who found. This 6 year old has to use a nebulizer to thin the mucus in his lungs when the air quality in cologne tyria writes during the winter months your gets a calm that invariably develops into bronchitis or even pneumonia in an effort to break the cycle doctors prescribe various medications and inhalations. The meat as the main problem is the strong medications and i try to avoid them by treating him 1st with homeopathy and herbals and then cough syrup but we usually end up resorting to a cord as i spray on about efforts of as soon as he starts coughing i tense up because i always feel that he develops this cough no matter what i do. Or what it means is that families have kids cant live in cities especially if theyre predisposed to these kinds of conditions i mean im home mom chemical outside yes via because the air is so bad that ultimately you cant live their. Sons chronic condition forced into and mirka fan version to move out to the suburbs but youll scoff hasnt improved it seems theres no escaping colognes polluted air. Weve even considered moving to the coast at all you know but im a teacher so i cant just get up and leave its always a question of where you can find a job but theoretically everybody should move away from cologne. Traffic is one of the causes of air pollution in cities 63 percent of traffic related particular matter is generated by breaking. Anti aware only 37 percent stems from engine source engines are primarily responsible for the not triggered signs in city air less so for particulate matter. Traffic generates high levels of dangerous ultra fine particles toxins adhere to their surfaces and can enter the bloodstream. In downtown cologne pediatrician christian during is vacuuming dirt off the street deposits of fine particular matter consisting of sort and rubber as well as lead barium aluminum and mercury street cleaning has long been used as a method of reducing traffic related air pollution but what christian during his doing here is merely symbolic. In the thought of not a bad year. As is our holding in this boat has made a difference the substances we vacuumed up these particles are contaminated the water so much that when we pour it in here we see that its completely cloudy this last of the intruders. How damaging is particulate matter to our internal organs next to the cemetery is the institute of forensic medicine of colognes University Hospital. The basement Pathology Lab is the work place a forensic Medicine Specialist mark was brought shield. Here he investigates cases in which the course of time time of death is unclear. What shield can read the organs of the deceased like a book this lung is no exception. It sounds like. This is the long of a man aged around 50 who lived here in the city at the autopsy determined that he died of Natural Causes or that we see very clearly by looking at his. Long that he held significant quantities of particulates matter and god without. The deceased was not a smoker the pathologist can tell that from the tissue still the left lung is covered in black dots. Tight if you can see polluted air as a residue in the lungs the shiny covering here is the pohlmann a reply that surrounds each lung in directly beneath the pleura and we see this pattern of black dots these are carbon particles particles and its the dirt this individual inhaled and that was deposited in his lungs. We believe about 20000 times every day passing some 10000 liters of air through our land particles smaller than 10 micro meters in diameter or p. M. T. Into the nasal cavity and trachea our natural defenses allow us to cough or sneeze small amounts out of our bodies. But those defenses are overtaxed by large quantities of particles the respiratory tract swells up even smaller particles p. And 2. 5 can enter the pole near a l. B. Or lie and trigger brumfiel infections the result. Pneumonia or bronchitis. We call a chronic inflammations those courses can create liberation of connective tissue fibrosis and along that produces the long elasticities in the Patient Experiences shortness of breath the hunger for air that is not curable what is tired of our. Old refined particles into the bloodstream triggering chronic inflammation of blood vessels that leads to clog arteries that can lead to a heart attack or stroke statistics for europe showed that pollution can shave up to 2 years off our life span. The block. Life shortening deposits of visible under the microscope the accumulation of carbon particles in the loans is known as answer cosas. To end but if you look at this and consider that our own lungs probably look the same its clear that we need to go out and breathe fresh air from time to time and most People Living in big cities all have long some which we find to a greater or lesser extent deposits of carbon particles mean it would have been a gosh are playing but i have to say that when i started 30 years ago we saw far more pronounced cases of anthrax hoaxes than we do today to play on the whole its declined but we still see it in anyone who lives in a big city looking obviously as for you didnt and it was. Pollution generated by the particulate matter drop significantly in germany after 990. 00 that includes not driven oxides which was thrust into the spotlight by the german come make a v. W. Is more recent emissions scandal but since 2009 theres been little improvement in equality. The situation is far more grave in delhi the worlds most polluted capital the air in the indian city is 10 times more contaminated than in cologne a trip to delhi is like a trip into germanys past this is how polluted the western european country was decades ago. People try to protect themselves with face masks. We meet up with our club she works for the center of science and environment and is an environmental advisor to the government she takes measurements to show us just how bad the air is. Like. Putting. It like to touch the 2 it. Not to go beating your dead combatively they dont actually deal with. The daily threshold value for particles in germany is 50 micrograms per cubic meter of. The measurements show delhi exceeds that by a factor of 30 that were taken in a heavily polluted area still there are many. Of the issues. So i didnt want to buy fish fillets he should he would have. Been a joins us tonight stopped looking for to push him it just changed my mind and now i want to look for the air pollution and i have been accused of ever so that if not meet the definition of the tradition would be stated that it should be done what they would be thinking. The Indian Government has responded by closing the coal fired power plants and ordering taxis that run on gasoline or diesel to switch to compressed natural gas but many still fill up with the band fuel and traffic isnt even the main source of delhis small its the poor households in this city of 28000000 that use coal heated all ends to press their laundry and open fires to cook their meals. Households like bondo davies every day she makes traditional flat bread often she uses the lack of wood to fire her stove such domestic cooking fire as one of the biggest sources of pollution here. Poor residents a poisoning the citys a and themselves. Then i have trouble breathing he is. The my eyes search. And i often get headaches. Sometimes i can hardly breathe and have to go to the hospital the good. From space air pollution is plain to see the haze hovers not only above the city but stretches in a broad band across india pollution levels are highest between november and monch then hospital waiting rooms fill up with coughing patients and pollution kills an estimated 1800000 indians every year doctors a Hospital Center of the chest and respiratory diseases use a lung function test to check for Early Warning signs. Not only the. B. B. And the britons a real out. Some more some more some more some more i think that we can say thats very good except that. We see that. Doctors can only treat the patient symptoms and try to relieve their pain in the recent deal as the number is increasing day by day im seeing more and more Young Children with symptoms suggestive of im seeing more and more people whose stupid you would ask my guests orsen very frequent so the number has almost doubled i can not tell my patients to stop breathing because its essential to breathe so when i see them again and again in my work wed be telling that yet it would be a big break over to be an art absolutely all right its really frustrating then i dont have to take a philosophy and tell everybody to plant a tree but probably you know we need more than just planting a tree. The bale family lives in greater. An absolute district in the capital theyve installed special technology in their high. To help improve the quality. My kids play room. And say hi is meet at. The end of. My down. So for them to even start to live if i have a pair. Thats for phillips. Their profile hero and the brand their unit got for us so this 3 said they are one from either group. Out there that one revere recently bought. You know a. Manager. Or so this is a very very serious thought that from a big company like marine ill buy a lot is an architect. He spent almost a 1000 euros on the air purifiers when they go outside in air pollution is high the children have to wear face masks. The. Last year there was a dying my children in step up and they were just. Stepping out for the next week for school or anything so they wore their mask to our living so there was a backpack. In the winter myra and mira spent 3 to 4 months almost exclusively indoors 22. 00 of the worlds most polluted cities are in india and the situation isnt improving clean air is a precious commodity that only the wealthy can afford to improve air quality for everyone india would need to lift millions out of poverty undereducated open fire cooking. Germany could serve as an example its biggest polluters industry and coal fired power plants were ordered to install filters systems domestic coal ovens were gradually replaced by gas heating and electric stoves. The German Environment Agency operates one of 6 measuring stations in noida club so in eastern brandenburg state it also analyzes data from up. State finance stations marion vic mumfie big heads the agencys air Quality Department she advises the government on strategies to tackle fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides the filter that is currently collecting particulate matter isnt here at midnight its pivoted over here and falls into this refrigerated chamber where the use filters are stored goes through to the spot on though and we can see theres already a residue on it. And then the big guy are not running back in the 1970 s. You could literally taste and see the smog at least in the industrial very area and big cities with a given that the fine particulate matter we measure here is a Health Hazard that you cant see and so its hard to convince people that its a serious risk to their health. Agency uses High Precision instruments to conduct its measurements when coal fired power plants are ramped up in neighboring poland or winds carry saharan dust clouds to germany the values measured here rise in the e. U. The threshold values for the inhalable particles measuring 2. 00 microns or less is 25. 00 micrograms per cubic meter of air averaged over 3 years. How one small vessel and we took the data for pm 2. 00 in germany and compared it with the authorized threshold value that theyre going to show us on this as you see on the map everything is green which means we have not exceeded any threshold value and are in compliance with the limit so it looks like there is no health risks but the World Health Organizations recommended limit is much lower when we compared our data to their threshold value of the map or suddenly read in other words there is a Health Hazard so if we want to protect Public Health we should use the w h os recommendations as our yardstick. Threshold values are always the result of negotiations politicians not doctors all scientists decide whether the air we breathe is clean enough. And currently politicians are focused on road traffic as the main source of pollution but marian victim and feedback says elsewhere. Would fuel Heating Systems are significant factor in air pollution especially out enbrel areas in fun if you drive through village youll see stacks of wood everywhere people use them to light a cozy evening fire but most dont have an exhaust filter and up everything thats burned inside goes straight up through the chimney and out into the air and thats what we brace. Emissions of pm 2. 5 particulates matter from wood studs has risen in germany in recent years while the share from automobile engines has dropped since 2008 would fuel stars have a mission more particulate matter than engines would combustion now generates ball most as much atmospheric pollution as traffic comprising engine exhaust as well as tires and brakes where. The reason more and more people like the schimmel family are heating with wood because its considered a Carbon Neutral fuel but particulate matter from wood burning stoves is as much a Health Hazard as diesel sort Chimney Sweeps regularly encounter users who dont know the rules of making a fire its a big problem so thats my stock now i would and a starter. The way youve packed it i dont know where you put the kindling it would be totally overloaded. With hollywood. Stoves that are overloaded all moms with high royster content emit high levels of pollutants like nitrogen and sulphur oxides hydrochloric acid and particulate matter. Chimneysweep mario vital uses small logs and wood will soaked in works to light the fire he puts the thinner logs on top this is the low emission top down method. So there are so thats the way to do it a perfectly stacked starve. And for the manufacturer has testbench conditions to achieve certain values with optimized words and set up conditions but hes vary from site to site. So in order to make it at all possible that the emissions correspond relatively closely to the manufacturers values wed Chimney Sweeps need to show our customers how to use their starves wrappers otherwise its pointless. Even if owners like their fires by the book its virtually impossible to match manufacturers and mission values in daily use woodstoves a much more pollution inclined despite the best efforts of Chimney Sweeps. You are going to try word below at the emissions source or the stove the cleaner the exhaust gases that i generate will be and the more im protecting the environment and my neighborhood of foreign made mine in mr one. According to the German Environment Agency wood stoves account for 20 percent of the particulate matter emitted in the pm 2. 00 size range in germany that figure is rising. Power plants are still the biggest emitters with 26 percent 2 thirds of these emissions stem from coal fired power plants traffic takes 3rd place with 19 percent of the share contributed by agriculture is just 5 percent. But the German Environment Agency only measures direct emissions your slowly felt is a professor of atmospheric physics at the Max Planck Institute for chemistry his findings are quite different lady fell says theres another culprit responsible for polluted air livestock. Yeah. The animals bear a share of responsibility for the problem this from a great sustainably but whenever you buy cheap meat from a conventional factory farm youre making a decisive contribution to the creation of atmospheric particulates matter. How was that possible layfield explains the following distinction primary particulate matter is emitted directly into the atmosphere when matter created for example by tie aware of or engine combustion decomposes into smaller particles secondary particulate matter is forme