More than 300 thousand people die every year due to the unfavorable state of the environment in Russia. To the traditional environmental problems that have existed in our country for many years, one more problem has been added - the problem of tropospheric (ground-level) ozone.
Ozone: good at the top, bad at the bottom
It is difficult to find a person who would not know about the existence of ozone holes in the Earth's stratosphere, depriving us of protection from the excessive ultraviolet radiation of the Sun, which is destructive for all living things. Against the background of this global problem, it would seem that the effect on our health of other ozone in the ground air that we breathe looks completely innocent. People pay attention to air pollution from industrial emissions and car exhaust, but few people know how dangerous ground-level ozone is for the human body.
The toxicity of ozone (O3) is manifested as a result of its effect on the respiratory system of humans and animals. Ozone has a high chemical activity, for the manifestation of its toxic effect, minimal concentrations are sufficient. It is an almost ideal chemical warfare agent, and only because of the difficulty in obtaining it, it was not among the war gases used during the First World War. Among its shortcomings, the military include a pungent smell.
The danger of ground-level ozone, the conditions for its occurrence and the need to develop methods of protection have long worried the public and the governments of industrialized countries.
There is an international term "pre-industrial ozone". Its concentration in the air was 10-20 μg / m3. The development of road transport has led to a significant increase in the concentration of ozone in the troposphere. Americans call this ground-level ozone "bad", as opposed to good - stratospheric. Industrialized countries faced this disaster several decades ago, and Russia only in the late 1990s.
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How is ozone formed?
An increased level of ground-level ozone occurs only under certain meteorological conditions - in hot weather.
In the surface layer of the atmosphere, the main source of ozone is photochemical reactions, in which nitrogen oxides, volatile hydrocarbons (vehicle and industrial emissions) and a number of other substances participate. These components are called ozone precursors. Under the influence of the wind, they can spread over hundreds of kilometers. When the level of solar radiation is small (cloudy summer weather, autumn, winter), photochemical reactions in the surface atmosphere are absent or flow very sluggishly. But as soon as solar radiation increases, especially in calm weather, the air in the city and beyond becomes especially poisonous.
In the hot summer of 2002, in a traditional resort place in the distant Moscow region, we recorded ozone levels exceeding 300 μg / m3! What do these numbers mean?
Ozone is a substance of the highest hazard class, in terms of toxicity it surpasses hydrocyanic acid and chlorine, which are chemical warfare agents. The World Health Organization has classified ozone as a substance with no threshold action, that is, any concentration of this gas, the strongest carcinogen in the air, is dangerous to humans. The maximum permissible concentration of ozone in Russia is:
- for residential areas 30 μg / m3 (average per day) and 160 μg / m3 (average for 30 minutes and no more than 1% of repeatability per year);
- for industrial areas - no more than 100 μg / m3.
In the countries of the European Union, a standard of 110 μg / m3 is adopted for 8 hours of daylight.
What are the health risks of ozone?
Ozone enters the body with the inhaled air. Ozone has general toxic, irritating, carcinogenic, mutagenic, genotoxic effects; causes fatigue, headache, nausea, vomiting, irritation of the respiratory tract, cough, respiratory distress, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, asthma attacks, pulmonary edema, hemolytic anemia (from Ya. M. Glushko's reference book "Harmful inorganic compounds in industrial emissions into the atmosphere "; L.,: Chemistry, 1987).
And this information is taken from the US government environmental site (www.epa.gov/air now (environmental Protection Agency). US scientists have determined that one in three Americans are hypersensitive to ozone. People in this group can seriously harm their health if they do not monitor for near-ground ozone reports from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in collaboration with the US government to help people optimize their decisions.
The effects of ozone on human health:
- causes irritation of the respiratory system, cough, heaviness in the chest; these symptoms can last for several hours and become chronic;
- reduces pulmonary function;
- promotes the development of asthma and increases the number of its attacks;
- provokes the occurrence of allergic reactions;
- damages the tissues of the bronchi and lungs;
- contributes to the occurrence of infertility in men;
- significantly reduces immunity;
- provokes carcinogenic and mutogenic processes.
Scientists have identified four groups of people who are at increased risk of negative ozone exposure:
- children;
- adults who, by occupation, spend a lot of time in active movement in the open air;
- people with a high sensitivity to ozone (scientists cannot yet determine the reason);
- aged people. This group also includes patients with chronic diseases of the respiratory system and cardiovascular system.
How to protect yourself from the effects of ground-level ozone?
If you find out about its increased concentration, there is only one way out - to avoid being in the open air; if this is not possible, limit your stay outside the room as much as possible, while not moving actively; do not allow children to go outside.
In 2005, several European states signed the Protocol on Limiting Pollutant Emissions. European experts have calculated that reducing the emissions of the precursors of ozone (nitrogen oxides and volatile hydrocarbons) by about 40% will reduce the number of days on which intense formation of tropospheric ozone occurs.
With a decrease in harmful emissions from industry and road transport (and, accordingly, a decrease in the formation of ground-level ozone), the number of years of life lost by people due to chronic diseases in 2010 will be 2.3 million years less than in 1990. Mortality rates among children and adolescents caused by the presence of this dangerous gas and microparticles in the atmosphere can be reduced by about 47,500 cases. The harmful effect of increased ozone concentration on the process of plant growth compared with 1990 will decrease by 44%.
In Russia in 1993 the damage from the increased ozone background for rye and wheat alone amounted to $ 150 million, and in Europe - more than $ 2 billion.
The analysis carried out during the negotiations on the conclusion of the Protocol showed that the estimated benefits of its implementation (improving public health, increasing agricultural yields, limiting damage to buildings and monuments) significantly exceed the cost of the projected costs (at least 3 times) on the implementation of this document.
We carried out an experiment on the simultaneous measurement of ozone with two identical gas analyzers in Moscow and in the resort area of the far Moscow region. It turned out that for the period of summer measurements, the ozone concentration in the city air was less than the analogous indicators in the atmosphere of the resort area. The paradoxical fact was explained using the model of the formation of this gas in the suburbs of megacities, which was developed by foreign scientists. The essence of the method is as follows.
On the leeward side of the metropolis, ozone concentrations begin to grow from a distance of about 20 km from the city and reach maximum values at a distance of 50-60 km from it. In the urban environment, powerful sources of nitrogen oxides are constantly operating. They react with ozone and neutralize it, but outside the city there are no such sources and the excess ozone remains in the air.
These reactions are cyclical and determine the equilibrium in the atmosphere. Thus, outside the city, the photochemical equilibrium is established towards high ozone values, and in the urban environment - lower. But this does not mean that the air in the metropolis is safer. In recent years, Moscow's atmosphere has turned into a chemical reactor producing highly toxic compounds. In the presence of nitrogen dioxide (and there is always a lot of this gas in the city air) ozone becomes 20 times more toxic. Muscovites, fleeing the summer heat at their dachas, have no idea what danger they put their health at. The only salvation is cold, cloudy and rainy summer! Climate warming in the Moscow region can lead to a catastrophic situation with the level of ground-level ozone, especially if our authorities continue to consider it useful.
How is the problem of tropospheric ozone being solved in the USA and the countries of the European Union? In Europe, there are more than 10 thousand monitoring stations for ozone precursors and for itself. The information received is used to alert the public. The most visited site in Germany is about the ozone content in the air. Based on the data obtained, the policy in the field of environmental protection of the EU member states is formed. The United States and Europe have already achieved annual reductions in ambient ozone concentrations.
In Russia, there is not a single station for monitoring ozone and its predecessors, although there is a high-quality analytical technique for monitoring the ozone level, specialists who offer ways to solve this problem. The authorities have neither the will nor the desire to delve into it.
How do officials who form the policy of nature management react to this acute situation, officials who build palaces on the most expensive and most dangerous land of the Moscow region?
On August 22, 2004, Federal Law No. 12 “On Amending Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation and Recognizing Some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation as Invalid in Connection with the Adoption of Federal Laws“On Amendments and Additions to the Federal Law “On General Principles of Organization of Legislative (representative) and executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation "and" On the general principles of organizing local self-government in the Russian Federation."
The title of the law would seem to indicate that the changes should concern state and local government bodies. We are convinced that this law has made significant changes in the lives of all citizens of Russia, and far from a positive one. The trend of changes in the field of environmental legislation does not inspire optimism; it demonstrates the fact of self-elimination of state authorities from fulfilling their obligations to society to ensure environmental safety and eliminate legal guarantees and practical mechanisms for environmental protection. The most important negative aspect of the adopted changes is the deprivation of state financial support for environmental protection,as well as anti-constitutional changes in the division of powers between the federal authorities and the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Legal mechanisms for the protection of atmospheric air in cities have been eliminated.
Federal authorities have absolved themselves of responsibility for the lives and health of millions of citizens.
Federal Law "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air"
Air quality is one of the determining factors for the state of the environment. The general trend in the development of legislation in this area demonstrates a departure from the observance of constitutional guarantees of the right of citizens to a healthy environment.
The state of atmospheric air in cities such as Moscow, Novokuznetsk, Cherepovets, Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg is catastrophic. People living in cities are forced to breathe toxic emissions from industrial enterprises that exceed the maximum permissible standards by a factor of hundreds. The latest amendments to the Federal Law "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air" deprive them of even a theoretical opportunity to change the situation in the future.
Perhaps the fate of a significant part of the population of Russia, which ensures the country's well-being, does not concern either the executive or the legislative branch. However, one's own life, it would seem, should not be indifferent even to those in power. There is an opinion that Moscow is in a special position and the difficulties experienced in the regions are not familiar to Muscovites, and the government, the president and the State Duma deputies generally live on another planet. In many ways, this opinion is justified, but not in a situation with air. Both the homeless person, the president and the prime minister, living in Moscow, breathe the same air.
Amendments have been made to the Federal Law "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air" indicating the complete elimination of the air protection system.
Law No. 122-FZ of August 22, 2004 invalidated:
Article 8 (no longer in force)
"The specially authorized federal executive body in the field of atmospheric air protection in accordance with the established procedure carries out activities in the field of atmospheric air protection together with other federal executive bodies within their competence and interacts with executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation."
Article 9 (repealed)
1. Legal entities that have sources of emissions of harmful (polluting) substances into the atmospheric air, as well as harmful physical effects on the atmospheric air, develop and carry out measures in the field of atmospheric air protection to protect atmospheric air.
2. Taking into account measures to reduce emissions of harmful (polluting) substances, monitoring data of atmospheric air, results of monitoring emissions of harmful (polluting) substances, results of calculations of dispersion of emissions of harmful (polluting) substances, the specially authorized federal executive body in the field of atmospheric air protection, territorial bodies develop appropriate federal target programs, programs of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local programs for the protection of atmospheric air.
Measures for the protection of atmospheric air should not lead to the pollution of other objects of the environment.
3. Draft programs for the protection of atmospheric air may be submitted for discussion by citizens and public associations in order to take into account their proposals when planning and implementing measures to improve the quality of atmospheric air.
Article 10 (Invalidated)
"Financing of programs for the protection of atmospheric air and measures for its protection is carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation."
Analyzing the amendments made to the legislation, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. A specially authorized body for the protection of atmospheric air has been liquidated, in fact, responsibility has been removed from the federal government for the appalling state of the air environment in a huge number of Russian cities with developed industry. The air condition in them poses a threat not only to health, but also to human life (Art. 8)
2. Programs for the protection of atmospheric air have been abolished (Article 9).
3. Legal entities that have sources of emissions of harmful substances are exempted from the obligation to protect the atmospheric air.
4. The federal authorities and the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have been relieved of the obligation to develop and implement programs and take measures for the protection of atmospheric air.
5. The control of the public and its participation in the planning and implementation of programs for the protection of atmospheric air was eliminated.
6. The financing of programs and measures for the protection of atmospheric air was eliminated (Article 10).
The recognition of these articles as invalid makes the very existence of the Law on the Protection of Atmospheric Air in Russia meaningless.
The population of all industrial cities of Russia, living in conditions of catastrophic air pollution, is left without guarantees of legal protection.
Authors: A. M. Chuchalin, O. A. Yakovleva, V. A. Milyaev, S. N. Kotelnikov