Outdoor Air Quality
Exposure of Children to School Bus Exhaust
The New Brunswick Lung Association, Health Canada, Environment Canada, and the New Brunswick Department of Education, with the help of the Research and Productivity Council of New Brunswick and Environment and Human Health Inc, Connecticut, have released their study on the level of exhaust pollutants on buses and on children’s walking routes to school.
About 95,000 (77%) students enrolled in schools in New Brunswick rely on school buses to get to school, and are exposed to this source of diesel exhaust on a daily basis. Past research has shown a relationship between lung and heart diseases and exposure to air pollution.
In this study, air pollutants were measured on 41 buses, travelling over 86 routes, and 20 walking routes. The routes were typical commuting routes for children attending New Maryland Elementary School, Gesner St. School in Oromocto, and Alexander Gibson Memorial School in Fredericton.
This study measured the levels of air pollutants known to be in diesel exhaust. It did not study the health impacts of these pollutants on children ’s health.
Riding a school bus is the safest way a child can get to school, and buses reduce traffic congestion by reducing the number of family cars transporting children to school. However, exhaust pollutants are generally higher on school buses than in the normal outdoor air. Under some conditions, such as during short bus rides that pick up children on traffic-dense streets, these pollution levels are on average 2-3 times higher than pollution levels on the average walking routes.
The study found that the levels of pollutants on New Brunswick School buses is actually lower than levels found in previous studies in Los Angeles, Connecticut and British Columbia. As well, old and new buses had similar levels of exhaust pollutants, indicating that our buses are well-maintained.
This is the first study in Canada to look at the levels of certain air pollutants in and around school buses. The findings of this research are important at a time when interest in children’s environmental health issues is increasing nationally and internationally.
This study concluded with a series of recommendations for actions to reduce air pollution levels on school buses. In a proactive move, the Government of New Brunswick announced in October 2005, the first-in-Canada province-wide no-idling policy for school buses. As well, the Government of Canada has a new regulation that will reduce the level of sulphur in diesel from 500 to 15 parts per million by 2006. This will allow new emission control technology to be installed on buses and will decrease emission of pollutants.
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