Wednesday 22nd - As ever pg 4 of the Time sis given over to the PR campaign
-Renault Diesels 'are the worst polluters'

It's PR originating out of a new Which study

"Emissions from new diesel cars are still far higher than official limit"
Yes well Lab test vs Road test
Also I'd be interested to find about the EU changing and choosing NOx limits.
As I understand the science isn't proven so there is only an arbitrary limit
Like it could be that being 10m away from air which is double the limit ..is not particularly damagaing.

Actually the test is a simulated road test, on rollers not actual road
so misses particulates from road & tyres.

But I that highlights a mislead by omission
The Report does not mention particulates !
What's the point in praising BMW now ..and then finding out later it's terrible on particulates ?

March 8-9th BC WS had a prog
Can Gas Stoves Cut Indoor Air Pollution?
#1 They went to Ghana to investigate getting villages to swap from indoor wood cooking to LPG stoves.
#2 They went to UN African expert in Kenya who first gave the old line,
..but then in a brainwashed way went into talking about traffic pollution.

All in all it was bizarre the kids in the kitchen getting the odd infection is one thing
...but I haven't seen anything that usurped the old research that said mothers in their 30's were actually DYING in numbers.

But strange that despite the question in the title of the prog. The African expert went off on a tangent and never really answered it.

Friday pg 30 Farmers Air Pollution
by Paul Simons the Time's weatherman
blames ammonia from animal waste
Farming is 80% of UK ammonia emissions.
suggests more GM

Monday pg8 Older Men's loss of Brainpower
Seems same old dirty PR trick : Big Headline but weak science : small sample sizes, tiny effects etc.

Do PR agencies and the BBC work together hand in hand ?

Absolute PR & Marketing

Fantastic to see our trailblazing client Lightfoot on BBC InsideOut last night supporting #soIcanbreathe week.
Presenter Jemma Woodman used Lightfoot to cut her emissions by 8% and others are doing even better.
Motorists across Exeter are collectively cutting CO2 by a tonne a week proving that smoother drivers use less fuel and cause less pollution.
The Absolute team is part of the pilot and you could be too:

https://www.lightfoot.co.uk/consumer/get-involved/#ECF

@HP Today's Time's #DieselsRPaedos News-vert is a full 2 pages 8-9
claims gov will both not implement expensive scrappage scheme
And compensate driver's for unfairness if Sadiq does implement big diesel charges.
Who knows it's all PR agency guff.

Another 1/3 page cos it heads the Time's Editorial as well.
About 500 words.

Times letter page 6 fairly balanced letters on Sadiq's diesel policy.
But one way of bias is to gatekeep..so far they've kept critical letters out and then suddenly they release 4 at once.So I wonder what the PR guys are playing at ?

In biz section a headline implies Electric/hybrid is driving a surge in OVERALL car sales figs
which grew by 8.4%
Electric/Hybrid account for 4.1% of that overall market.
So no they are not driving overall market.
Of that 8.4% rise they make up 1% and 7.4% is petrol/diesel sales increase

Interesting development
'Sadiq Khan's '40,000 pollution deaths a year' is a zombie statistic and isn't true, says respiratory physician
Figures have been released claiming pollution causes almost 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK. Air pollution is also said to cause a total 340,000 years of lost life in the UK.

Figures originated from a Royal College of Physicians report and Mr Khan has cited the figures in announcing measures to cut pollution in London.

But Tony Frew, respiratory physician at the University of Brighton, told Julia Hartley-Brewer this is merely an example of a "zombie statistic", meaning "however much you try to kill it it comes back and it's simply not true."

He explained that the 340,000 life years figure doesn't equate to real life, and in reality each person loses only about three days from their lifespan as a result of pollution.

Frew also said that the 40,000 deaths a year figure is "a guess" using information about two pollutants which overlap.

He added that pollution levels are "illegal because we made it illegal, not because it's dangerous."

Over on Bishes post about David King
good comment Apr 6, 2017 at 3:49 PM Dave Salt

\\ golf charlie you are correct that black smoke from a diesel is a sign of incomplete combustion and is most prevalent during transient conditions (e.g. hard acceleration). However, modern design and control methods (e.g. electronic engine management, direct injection, catalytic converters and particulate filters) have effectively eliminated this from cars since more than a decade.

Although ozone and NOx emissions still remain problematic, ‘selective catalytic reduction’ (SCR) technology, which injects ammonia via via AdBlue/DEF (a 1:2 parts mixture of urea and water) into the exhaust, can reduce these significantly and are fitted to most modern cars to meet the Euro 6 standard… article

Concerning the latest medical evidence, Sunday Politics did an excellent job of putting things into perspective a few months ago…

…with old ‘brillo’ doing a rather effective job embarrassing the director of Greenpeace with real-world facts…

Dave continued
\\golf charlie (Apr 6, 2017 at 4:19 PM), I believe that the amount of NOx produced is primarily a function of the pressure inside the combustion chamber, rather that the fuel type. It is therefore a direct consequence of compression ignition mechanism, which is the basis of the Diesel cycle.

Note that jet engines also have significant NOx emissions but are not such a direct issue for human health because of where they mainly operate, though their indirect effects on atmospheric chemistry may well be a legitimate concern.//

MikeH added
This is a link to a video clip from Sunday Politics about diesels etc.

Paul H has important info
What happens when you feed today's models with historic data ?
bang

.

Hey Dr Jon Griggs please explain why you've never mentioned the asthma/worm link ?
Mentioned by Matt Ridley in today's Times
Asthma is only 2 sentences & traces back 2001 New Scientist article
"In the study area in south-western Ethiopia, around five percent of people have asthma in the city of Jimma, but only half a percent in the surrounding rural districts.
The team found that infestation with two kinds of intestinal parasite, hookworm and the large roundworm Ascaris, both DECREASE a person’s risk of asthma. A heavy hookworm burden lowers risk by around two-thirds. Another common parasite type, Tricuris or whipworm, offers no protection.

Previous studies have connected intestinal parasites with immune response related to asthma"
Ridley explains that no other factor including air pollution could explain the change.

His Times articles always appear on his blog the following week.

Seems to me deception by omission when such important context is left out of PR and public debate.

Steve Milloy : Exposes big problems with the death stat claims and he's supported by a senior retired expert in that.
#1 The WTimes article The EPA lied — nobody died
"The Environmental Protection Agency’s human experiment program exaggerated the danger of outdoor pollutants"
Context : The harm from diesels is supposed to come from Particulates and NOx

He explains EPA have been caught in a bind and are admitting that particulates PM25 aren't so harmful ..otherwise they'd have to explain why they've continued with exposing their human research subjects.

#2 \\Epidemiologist accuses prominent EPA-funded researchers of ‘deliberate misrepresentation’ //

LibMob propaganda site Grist has this
Now there are air-pollution deniers, too
By Emily Atkin on Mar 16, 2017

Deep in it appears to be a hit piece against Milloy

Dr Frew on FHB's podcast 13 mins adds the context that ALL other news reports omit

It's worth listening
- 340K life-years lost per year = 3 days/per year shorter off everyones life on average
So in a lifetime in London you could lose 9 months off your life
- It's a FALSE-narrative to say that 40K/year (9K in London) lives will be saved
Ridding London of all vehicles including trains will not make a big difference
since they only account 1/7th of all pollution
- We will make EU limits anyway in all except 4 cities (Lon, Cardiff, Southampton, Derby)
...and above those limits is not necessarily dangerous

Now I mentioned earlier Frew's appearance on BBC More or Less
Then he also challenged the 40K number.
But now I wonder if BBC edited down his emphasism.

new Euan Mearns has a detailed piece
Mortality from Diesel Car Pollution in the UK

Catching up last week's Times

Air Pollution propaganda
"Smog blown here from US kills thousands"
Text says smog drift to Europe causes many deaths : 2,300 from US, 1,400 from China, 1.200 Russia

Concludes 1/8 of pollution is transcontinental
..seems like student amateurs to me
Well it is from UEA