SCIENTISTS at a Scottish university have for the first time shown a definite link between car-choked streets and illness, concluding that air pollution can make people more vulnerable to infection.
And the man leading the team at Edinburgh Napier University has said that strong action plans should be put in place urgently to combat the threat.
Immunology expert Dr Peter Barlow led a team who demonstrated that nano-sized particles found in traffic fumes can damage the immune system’s ability to kill viruses and bacteria, the first work to show this.
He told The National: “It’s quite a disturbing finding. Historically air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular disease and lung diseases, but this is the first study that links exposure to possibly making you more susceptible to infection.”
Researchers at the School of Applied Sciences focused on “antimicrobial peptides”, tiny molecules found in the immune systems of humans and animals which increase in response to infection. The study, published in The Journal of Immunology, found that particles found in air pollution can prevent peptides working properly.
“We did the study in the laboratory and what we found is that the molecules that are important for fighting infections in your body are damaged by air pollution, unfortunately, weakening the body’s immune system,” said Barlow, an associate professor of immunology and infection.
He and researcher Dr Fern Findlay, working with the Moredun Research Institute in Midlothian and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, found carbon particles could trigger changes in the antimicrobial peptides, potentially resulting in “an increased susceptibility to infection”.
The implications are profound for people living in areas of high air pollution, who breathe in huge concentrations of particles every day or absorb them through skin contact, especially those with pre-existing lung conditions like asthma or COPD.
“This is an area of research that is very poorly understood,” said Barlow. “We were extremely concerned when we found that air pollution particles could inhibit the activity of these molecules, which are absolutely essential in the fight against infection.
“We need to find ways of reducing air pollution, particularly in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow. We’re going to follow up this work by looking at a nationwide study to try to get a better understanding about what’s happening.
“We’ll look at Scotland in the first instance because we have access to data, but the study we’re putting out today has implications worldwide – any polluted city in the world if people are exposed to pollution on a regular basis, this could potentially cause some quite harmful effects.
“I think we can agree it is really time for something to be done. In light of these findings, we urge that strong action plans are put in place to rapidly reduce particulate air pollution in our towns and cities. I know it will take a long time to put any type of effective plan in place, but I think this study adds some urgency and weight to the calls.”
Emilia Hanna, air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) said the study added to the “mountain of evidence” that air pollution damages our health: “Levels of toxic pollution are breaking both European and Scottish regulations on air quality in all our major cities, posing a threat to our health and in particular the health of children whose bodies are still developing.
“The Scottish Government has a legal duty to clean up our air to within safe levels as soon as possible. It must roll out low emission zones in all our major cities, re-regulate the buses to give local authorities a better ability to provide quality bus services, and invest 10 per cent of its transport budget in safe, high quality walking and cycling paths to help people travel without polluting.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Scotland is the first country in Europe to pass legislation based on World Health Organisation guidelines regarding some of the most dangerous pollutants, and our Cleaner Air for Scotland strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to promote air quality.”
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