- Scientists are to track American smog and exhaust fumes
amid fears it could be harming people in Britain.
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- Forty scientists from seven British universities are
to travel to the Azores in the Atlantic today to follow a plume of air
as it heads across the ocean. They want to know how dangerous the pollutants
are by the time they have travelled 5,000 miles.
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- Dr Alastair Lewis, from the Intercontinental Transport
of Ozone and Precursors programme, said: "It's highly likely that
air leaving the States contains a cocktail of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons,
which are emitted from vehicle exhausts and power stations. We want to
know how these will react together on the way to Europe and whether they
will form ozone and particles, both of which can be harmful to humans."
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- Ozone is produced when nitrogen oxides and volatile chemicals
react in sunlight. In the upper atmosphere, the chemical protects the Earth
from the sun's dangerous ultra-violet radiation. But when inhaled at ground
level it can damage the lungs. Sooty particles that lodge in the lungs
are also harmful. During last year's heatwave, levels of ozone and particles
soared, resulting in up to 800 extra deaths across Britain.
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- Emission chemicals from industrial centres on the US
east coast sweep north as far as Nova Scotia, where they are sucked up
into powerful jet stream air currents five miles high. They are then blown
across the Atlantic towards northern Europe.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=540156
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