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Diário do Comércio SP | Thursday, October 26th 2006

Suffocating Cities

“People of São Paulo, the air that you are breathing is one of the worst there is among all the big cities in the world”. This warning was given by Gyõrgy Miklós Bõhm, on January 1, 1989. Almost 17 years ago, this Hungarian doctor and naturalized Brazilian who was a specialist in experimental pathology was already sounding the alarm regarding the critical situation of pollution in São Paulo. But the bad news is that the air quality there has not greatly improved since then.

Every day, 8.2 tons of pollutants spill out over the city. This is more than three million tons per year, 90% of which from motor vehicles. The worst part comes from diesel-powered engines. “Living in São Paulo signifies two years off people’s lives”, says the director of the Engineers’ Association of the State of São Paulo (Seesp), Emiliano Affonso. It also means smoking four cigarettes a day, whether the person living in São Paulo is a smoker or not.

No defense – According to the titular professor and head of the Department of Pathology of the School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (USP), Paulo Saldiva, the blame for so much pollution falls on the so-called particulate material (PM), i.e. fine particles, with diameters of less than 2.5 micrometers. “These are especially harmful because they deeply invade the respiratory system, without any possibility of defense”, he says.

According to the specialists, the microparticles emitted by diesel engines that are deposited in the lungs become lodged and remain there for all time. The disease that they most frequently provoke is inflammation.

According to a report in 2005 from the Company for Environmental Sanitation Technology, Science and Technology at the Service of the Environment (Cetesb), a state agency dedicated to managing air quality, 40% of the pollution due to inhalable-fraction particulate material (the worst for human beings), 96% of nitrogen oxides and 42% of sulfur oxides come from vehicle emissions.

Also according to Cetesb, diesel-powered vehicles constitute the biggest source of pollution from vehicles (with 79% of the nitrogen oxides, 19% of the sulfur oxides and 28% of the inhalable particles), in relation to the total quantity of emissions from all the other pollutant sources together.

Research coordinated by Saldiva has shown that increases in atmospheric pollution levels, which mainly occur in the winter, may raise the risk of death due to respiratory diseases by up to 12% on peak contamination days. According to this doctor: “2,600 people die in São Paulo every year because of pollution-related cardiopulmonary diseases. This number works out at around seven a day”.

Diesel – The emission control policies for pollutants leave something to be desired regarding diesel-powered engines. Since the Control Program for Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles (Proconve) was implemented in 1986, emissions of carbon monoxide by gasoline-powered vehicles have fallen from 6.2 grams/km to 0.34 grams/km. “Diesel did not have the same regulatory treatment”, admits the manager of the data interpretation sector of Cetesb, Carlos Lacava.

This manager says that the increase in pollution in São Paulo is relative, because there has been a reduction in the emission of some substances. But he explains that today ozone and particulate material are the greatest concerns among the specialists. “The controls advance in accordance with the understanding and the studies, but the World Health Organization (WHO) is establishing limits that are increasingly rigid”, reflects Lacava.

Trucks – Few of the improvements are applied to trucks. A survey carried out by the Industrial Association of São Paulo (Setecesp) showed that 72.76% of the trucks in São Paulo were manufactured before 1990. The 200,000 cargo vehicles that circulate around the city’s streets and avenues every day have an average age four years greater than the national average, which is 18 years. “Vehicles manufactured more than 20 years ago emit 14 grams of carbon monoxide per km, i.e. 40 times what a new private vehicle emits", says the coordinator of Cetesb’s supply department, Fernando Zaretti.

2,600 people die in São Paulo every year because of pollution-related diseases.
Paulo Saldiva, doctor.

The very poor quality of the diesel put on the market in Brazil is one of the biggest factors responsible for the atmospheric pollution in São Paulo. In a comparison made by the specialists, the pollutant content of European diesel is 500 parts per million, while in Brazil this figure reaches 2,000 parts per million. In the city that 70% of Brazil’s cargo vehicles go through and with the biggest bus fleet in the country (15,000 vehicles), it is the taxpayer who pays the bill for the pollution.

“Brazilian diesel is so poor that there are no filters capable of resolving the problem of the emission of pollutants from buses and trucks”, says Emiliano Affonso, of the Engineers’ Association.

São Paulo spends US$ 8 billion a year on general healthcare. According to Saldiva, of USP, approximately 9% of this sum (US$ 750 million) is channeled for the treatment of symptoms relating to the emission of pollutants. The expenditure on healthcare and time off work alone take US$ 400 million a year from the market.

Filter – In an attempt to turn this situation round, the company Sabertec yesterday announced the results from tests carried out on an Impact Diesel Particulate Filter (IDPF) at the Experimental Atmospheric Pollution Laboratory of the Department of Pathology of the School of Medicine of USP.

The final report presented by the team of researchers showed a significant reduction in emissions, with a retention rate of up to 70% of the particulate material of 2.5 micrometers in size (PM 2.5). In 2005, this material was identified by WHO as one of the polluting elements that was most harmful to human health.

The IDPF was conceived by the São Paulo engineer Sérgio Sangiovani. The equipment has been patented and licensed by Sabertec, an American company operating in the field of environmental technology. According to Sangiovani, the IDPF is efficient when used in vehicles powered by diesel with high sulfur content, as is the case with the Brazilian fuel. “It is expected that the filter should be washed after traveling around 50,000 km”, he says.

This new device is already available on the market, but is awaiting homologation by the proper agencies. The filter costs around US$ 1,100. If it were adopted by the large-sized fleet that is powered by diesel in the capital, it is expected that there would be a 35% improvement in the air quality, according to studies conducted by USP.