City cycling 'could do damage to heart' due to polluting chemicals, new research claims

As I don't drive, my choice is bike or public transport. I would rather put the money into my vehicle and super styling wardrobe and put my fate or being late or not in my own hands than get fat and sweaty with hundreds of other unhappy people.

I do wonder which 'city' this pollution is in? I spend about three minutes in town getting to my office. The rest of my route is 20 minutes of suburban roads with plenty of cross breeze. And this is Manchester, England's second city and capital of the North and capital of the UK after the Great Flood of London 2017. Surprised there is no link to the Daily Mail with this health scare.

There have been various bits of research along these lines over the years. I remember one study decades ago finding that [deceased] young people in Los Angeles (who, if I recall correctly, had mostly been non-smokers who died from things like gunshot wounds!) had lungs comparable to long-term smokers, due to the effects of road pollution. And some more recent ones showing car pollution increased your chance of a heart attack at least in the short term.

Of course the real message is "other people's driving could do damage to your heart".

But nobody cares. As with RTA deaths, motorists get special licence to ignore the moral rules that apply to everyone else.

(See also the historical use of lead as an additive in petrol.)

Since moving to London I have used a Respro Pollution mask for all rides into London. When I commuted 5 days a week, I had to change the filter and valve every month or so. The colour of the filter was enough to make me change and justified the expenditure. Of course I am aware that these do not stop the smallest particles getting through, however careful you are when you put the thing on. Respro state their masks filter down to 0.3microns. But thats not small enough for the more harmful particles. If anyone knows of a better filter you can use for hard riding without your temp going through the roof please let me know,

"There is good evidence that nitrogen is harmful to health".

Really? Nitrogen (N2) makes up 75-80% of every breath we breathe. There is no evidence that Nitrogen is harmful to health.

Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) might cause a few problems but not nitrogen in itself

Can someone assess the respiratory risk of getting the Tube every day? Actually... no need. Yuck.

Another option to help reduce your exposure is to ride without exerting yourself much, like I often do

Far sooner take the much smaller risk from pollution and traffic as a cyclist than the risk of gatting an inactivity based illness.

society needs to take the same line with cars and pollution as they have done with smoking and stop/contain the offenders, not blame the innocent third parties

Quote:

Cycling in cities could do more damage than good to a rider’s heart thanks to dangerous pollutants in the air, a new study has found.

Haven't found any studies on bicycle emissions, but am fairly sure that it's motorised vehicles that are throwing out PM2.5/10 (the apparent focus of Ms Nyhan's research), CO, NOx, and VOCs, not bicycles. So let's try changing that quote a little.

Quote:

Driving in cities could do more damage than good to a rider’s heart thanks to dangerous pollutants in the air, a new study has found.

There, that's better. Now we have a fair idea of where the problem is coming from. You'd think that the best way out of this is to stay off that nasty, unhealthy bicycle, and get into a nice, healthy car. Whoopsadaisy. From 1995, "The exposure of cyclists, car drivers and pedestrians to traffic-related air pollutants (van Wijnen JH, Verhoeff AP, Jans HW, van Bruggen M.)

Quote:

Despite the much higher concentrations in the personal air samples of car drivers, the uptake of CO, benzene, toluene and xylenes of cyclists sometimes approached that of the car drivers. The uptake of NO2 of cyclists was clearly higher than that of car drivers.

And from 2001, Differences in cyclists and car drivers exposure to air pollution from traffic in the city of Copenhagen. (Rank J, Folke J, Jespersen PH.)

Quote:

The concentrations of particles and BTEX in the cabin of the cars were 2-4 times greater than in the cyclists' breathing zone, the greatest difference being for BTEX. Therefore, even after taking the increased respiration rate of cyclists into consideration, car drivers seem to be more exposed to airborne pollution than cyclists.

Now I didn't buy the full articles, and am quoting highlights of the abstracts. But I'm seeing a trend here. Pollution seems to be worse inside a motorised vehicle than outside it, particularly for the type of pollution looked at in detail for Ms Nyhan's research, and without the added benefit of a cardiovascular workout as well. But no articles saying driving to work is bad for your health. Can't help wondering why cyclists have been singled out to be advised to stay off busy roads. Suggestions on a postcard please.

While I'm here...

Quote:

There is good evidence that nitrogen is harmful to health.

Never mind. We're all screwed. The air around us is about 80% nitrogen.

I actually dont care any more...hate to admit that.

I've tried it, essentially cycling to work amongst hung over and late motorists distracted by looking at phones or doing their make-up resulted in far too many near misses and for what?

I drive now, making sure of course to make a very visible point of driving very carefully around my fellow cyclists.

I hope the muppets behind will get the hint that others do actually recognise that any inocuous lump clad in lycra is actually a human being with an extremely fragile life that I temporarily have responsibility for as I pass.

I've had it with half arsed government attempts at encouraging sustainable transport solutions and endless reports screaming out the frickin' obvious benefits of people not sitting on arses all day long.

Bring on the smog, the clogged highways, the broken roads, obesity, the NHS timebomb with the multi billion pound price tag and everything else that the national obsession with the car entails.

Perhaps then our MP's will get it...of course it will be the fault of the previous government as the latest smug waste of space sidles up to you and asks you where your vote is going

Just how many times can you lead a horse to the trough before you get fed up and leave the wretched thing to its fate?

Controversial I know and it pains me to write this but just what are we supposed to do to get anything to change?!