Pollution and face masks

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erasrupe
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Pollution and face masks

Post by erasrupe »

Hi - I spend about 5-7 hours a week cycle commuting to London. Do you think I need to wear a face mask to protect against pollution and if so, any views on a good one? Many thanks!
Jdsk
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Jdsk »

Anything in particular that you don't want to inhale?

And is there any COVID aspect to this?

Jonathan
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mjr
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by mjr »

Probably not. The most important thing is to pick routes where you are not riding/standing behind motor exhaust pipes or near vehicle brakes and tyres much. Mitigation measures like filter masks should probably be a last resort because they have many other drawbacks, like steaming up glasses.

You might find this old video interesting:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... port-video

And you might like the journey planner at https://cleanairroutes.london/
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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erasrupe
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by erasrupe »

Thank you, interesting video. My concern isn't covid related, just about breathing in car fumes.

Although there doesn't seem that much evidence around the topic, I can't help thinking that if I cycle commute for 10 years, there could be health effects from inhaling car fumes over a long period and it may not be as healthy as I think!
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foxyrider
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by foxyrider »

erasrupe wrote: 3 Sep 2021, 10:27pm Thank you, interesting video. My concern isn't covid related, just about breathing in car fumes.

Although there doesn't seem that much evidence around the topic, I can't help thinking that if I cycle commute for 10 years, there could be health effects from inhaling car fumes over a long period and it may not be as healthy as I think!
The people most likely to suffer are actually those in the motor vehicles! Unless you sit behind their exhaust pipes all the time any effect a mask would have is very small besides being expensive to maintain. Particulate filters need replacing very regularly to be of any use at all. So unless you have a particular health issue, i'd take my chances bare faced.
Convention? what's that then?
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Tangled Metal
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Tangled Metal »

It's bad in cars buses and tube too. There's probably pollution heat maps of London online. Pick your routes along the quiet roads if you can. The further you are away from busy traffic the better.

I lived at the end of a road with about 15 houses between ours and the A6 Road through the small town. I cycled down the A6 to work for about n10 years. I developed breathing issues and got diagnosed with asthma. I had periods in autumn when it was bad and I used salbutamol up to 10 times a day. I moved n away to the countryside and after the dust settled I never used the inhaler since, I moved in march this year.

Face masks with a ppe rating are good for walking but not if you're cycling with effort I reckon. And then only if you fit it correctly. At work any station needing masks the operator is put through a face fit course to learn how to fit a mask. Including a test where they put a test thing over the mask once fitted and put something nasty in it. If it's fitted there's no smell, if not the operator soon knows about it!

Unless you fit one with a good seal they're not really worth the discomfort I reckon.
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mjr
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by mjr »

Tangled Metal wrote: 3 Sep 2021, 11:55pm It's bad in cars buses and tube too. There's probably pollution heat maps of London online. Pick your routes along the quiet roads if you can. The further you are away from busy traffic the better.
https://cleanairroutes.london/ shows what it says are live pollution levels on its map.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Tangled Metal
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Tangled Metal »

IMHO there should be such maps for the whole of the UK. Its public service information I reckon that we should all have access to not just London or big cities. I read somewhere pollution is bad in smaller towns and even the odd countryside area.
Oldjohnw
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Oldjohnw »

Tangled Metal wrote: 4 Sep 2021, 8:43am IMHO there should be such maps for the whole of the UK. Its public service information I reckon that we should all have access to not just London or big cities. I read somewhere pollution is bad in smaller towns and even the odd countryside area.


I think that there are. For example:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/aqma/details?aqma_ref=669

Not brilliant but the information is there.
John
Jdsk
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Jdsk »

erasrupe wrote: 3 Sep 2021, 10:27pmAlthough there doesn't seem that much evidence around the topic, I can't help thinking that if I cycle commute for 10 years, there could be health effects from inhaling car fumes over a long period and it may not be as healthy as I think!
Most of the relevant points are already upthread.

Let us know if you'd like a link to some recent tests of masks intended to protect agent particulates, or to the scientific studies.

But please don't let it put you off cycling: as far as we know the health gains massively outweigh the harms, even with the muck in the air.

Jonathan
Tangled Metal
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Tangled Metal »

Oldjohnw wrote: 4 Sep 2021, 8:49am
Tangled Metal wrote: 4 Sep 2021, 8:43am IMHO there should be such maps for the whole of the UK. Its public service information I reckon that we should all have access to not just London or big cities. I read somewhere pollution is bad in smaller towns and even the odd countryside area.


I think that there are. For example:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/aqma/details?aqma_ref=669

Not brilliant but the information is there.
I might be a bit slow on this but the interactive map doesn't give any explanation. There's highlighted areas shown for each class of pollutants but one colour shaded area. If your area is shaded does that mean it's high or above safe levels? It seems incomplete if there's no explanation or interpretation.
mumbojumbo
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by mumbojumbo »

I would focus on your route .I have worn a mask and ran out of quips to respond to silly remarks like "Are you robbing a bank?" OR "Fck me its Zorro/Dick Turpin". Picking a quiet route would be more pleasant and safer,and less unsettling for pedestrians.
Oldjohnw
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Oldjohnw »

John
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Re: Pollution and face masks

Post by Psamathe »

Oldjohnw wrote: 4 Sep 2021, 10:54am Talking of clean air,

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... SApp_Other
And does not look like things are going to improve for some time
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/air-pollution-olney-clean-zones-b1914292.html wrote:Tories rapped over pollution after ministers OK delays to Clean Air Zones
Exclusive: Just four out of 61 zones introduced under plan dating back to 2017

Conservatives have been accused of delaying action on air pollution after it emerged that the government agreed to local authority requests to put the introduction of Clean Air Zones on hold last summer because of the Covid outbreak.

A plan first published in 2017 directed 61 councils across England to develop plans “in the shortest possible time” for delivering cuts in levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is emitted in car exhausts.

But only three Clean Air Zones have since been put in place - in London, Birmingham and Bath & North East Somerset - while Portsmouth is due to launch its own zone this winter.
...
Ian
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