FRANCE: Unseasonable weather with low winds leads to high levels of pollution in Paris, posing potential health risk

Record ID: 216960

  • Title: FRANCE: Unseasonable weather with low winds leads to high levels of pollution in Paris, posing potential health risk
  • Date: 30th March 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) FORECASTING ENGINEER AT AIRPARIF, CHRISTOPHE AMPE, SAYING: "Fine particles called PM10 are very small particles, smaller even than a bacterium, so these are particles which can get into your lungs and which can directly affect your respiratory system and therefore people's health."
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA18CPME05KUJG723Z37VSQVZPV
  • Story Text: High temperatures in Paris coupled with very little wind have led to increased levels of dangerous PM10 particles in the atmosphere, posing a health risk to residents and leading officials to advise motorists to lower their speed.
    The warm weather, due to an anti-cyclone in northern Europe, has meant that temperatures this week in Europe have reached unseasonable highs, with French weather authority Meteo France describing the temperatures in the French capital on Thursday (March 29) as "very high for the time of year."
    The fine PM10 particles which pose a particular health risk are produced by industrial activity and by road traffic. In view of this, Parisian authorities have advised motorists to lower their speed by 20 km/h on the city's main routes. On the ring road around Paris, motorists have been advised to lower the speed limit to 60 km/h from the usual 80, and signs have been put up advising drivers to drive slowly along this congested road.
    Christophe Ampe, a forecasting engineer at Airparif which measures the purity of the air in the French capital, said that this situation was the same all over Europe, in all big cities with the same problem of a lack of wind to disperse the particles.
    "Today we are in a period of PM10 particle pollution. It's a period that began last week and is ongoing. It's due to the accumulation of particles because of inadequate dispersal of pollutants. That's to say that currently there is an anti-cyclone situated over France, over the north of Europe, which stops pollutants being able to escape," he said.
    The health risks are serious.
    "These are particles which can get into your lungs and which can directly affect your respiratory system and therefore people's health," Ampe told Reuters Television.
    He added that by avoiding exercise, people can limit their exposure to the dangerous particles.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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