South Africa is a mining mecca and, while the country’s mining riches may be great for the economy, the same cannot be said for our health.
Fortunately, however, the serious health risks associated with mining pollution – as outlined in this article, below – can be considerably mitigated by purifying the indoor air you breathe at home and at work with a good quality air purification system.
pbOffice, a division of PBSA, offers a range German-made air purifiers, humidifiers and combo units to serve all household and business premises indoor air purification requirements. Designed and manufactured by Ideal in Balingen, Germany our state-of-the-art devices work on a multi-stage air purification system, which filters almost 100% of pollutants from the air before they reach your lungs.
Mining in South Africa and your health
The adverse effects of mining activity on human health – and the environment at large – is a stark reality that environmentalists, politicians and civil activists alike have been trying to grapple with for years now. Unfortunately, it is a reality we cannot escape.
South Africa – the world’s third largest coal exporter – is also home to a host of other minable minerals, including diamonds, gold, platinum, palladium, chromium, uranium, manganese, ilmenite, zirconium, vanadium, rutile and vermiculite.
Over the past few months there has been a heightened focus on the effects of coal mining, in particular, on human health. In September, UK-based air quality and health expert Dr Mike Holland visited South Africa and uncovered some shocking air quality issues surrounding the country’s coal-mining activities.
According to Holland, air pollution from coal-fired power stations kills more than 2 200 South Africans and causes thousands of cases of bronchitis and asthma in adults and children every year. The accumulative monetary damage to the economy – which includes healthcare costs and lost working days – is more than R30-billion a year.
The recent visit follows in-depth research undertaken by Holland last year. Commissioned by local non-profit environmental justice service groundWork, Holland’s findings are contained in a report entitled Health impacts of coal-fired power plants in South Africa.
Shocking figures
These are some of the estimated annual impacts Holland attributes to air pollution from the burning of coal in South Africa:
- 2 239 deaths – 157 from lung cancer, 1110 from ischaemic heart disease, 73 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 719 from strokes, and 180 from lower respiratory infection
- 2 781 cases of chronic bronchitis in adults
- 9 533 cases of bronchitis in children aged 6 to 12
- 94 680 days of asthma symptoms in children aged 5 to 19
- 2 379 hospital admissions
- 3 972 902 restricted activity days (all ages)
- 996 628 lost working days
On 26 September 2017, the South African Medical Research Council released research findings on Air Quality and Human Health in South Africa that corroborate the gravity of the situation, as laid out in Holland’s reports.
The council report outlines how air pollution plays a direct role in a number of adverse health conditions in adults and children, and points out that the situation is only set to worsen, due to climate change.
The report highlights indoor air as one of the biggest culprits in its report background: “In 2015, 6.4 million deaths (and 167.2 DALYs*) were attributed to air pollution globally. Household air pollution accounted for 2.8 million of these deaths [and] ranked [as the] 7th leading risk factor attributing DALYs globally in 2013.”
Reduce your risk
There is an often-quoted statistic that indicates many adults spend up to 90% of their time indoors, between home and the office.
What’s worse, is that children are now starting to spend more time indoors in South Africa too. Earlier this year, in February, Stats SA’s Victims of Crime survey revealed that most South Africans spend less time in public open spaces or allow their children to play outside for fear of crime.
When you consider that some studies have shown indoor air to be two to five times more polluted than the air outside, it is clear that it is the indoor air that we breathe which should be our first line of attack when it comes to defending our – and our children’s – lungs.
And this goes for office workers, too. According to research conducted by the University of California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, employers can improve workforce performance by up to 10% through improvements in the quality of indoor air.
Air purifiers have been proven to limit the risks of illness caused by airborne pollutants by eliminating the vast majority of airborne substances that are a danger to our health and well-being, and cleaning the air we breathe.
In light of our environmental circumstances, never has it been more crucial than it is today, to ensure air we take into our lungs on a daily basis – both at home and at work – is clean. Invest in your health today, by investing in an air purifier.
For more information on the various Ideal models and features, visit our Air Purifiers web page or call 010 300 4893.
[NOTES]
* The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death.
[REFERENCES]
- Wikipedia – Economy of South Africa
- Wikipedia – Mining industry of South Africa
- co.za – Effects of Mining on the Environment and Human Health
- ee Publishers – Air pollution from coal power stations deadly
- Dr Mike Holland – Health impacts of coal-fired power generation in South Africa (PDF)
- South African Medical Research Council – Air Quality and Human Health in South Africa (PDF)
- Huffington Post – How employee productivity chokes on indoor air
- EPA’s report on the Environment – The importance of indoor air quality
- Sandton Chronicle – Stats SA – South Africans spend more time indoors because of crime
