It’s the latest phobia of many a Münchner—Feinstaub. So what exactly is all the fuss about?
Munich is often praised for its clean streets, lack of litter and alleged low pollution levels. Expatriot residents and locals extol the city for its healthy lifestyle and its overall high quality of life, particularly compared to larger cities, such as London, Berlin or Paris. It comes as a bit of a shock, therefore, to find out that Munich isn’t so squeaky clean after all, as it stands accused of violating European Union air-pollution levels.
Local newspapers have been full of headlines about Munich’s “killer dust” after the Bavarian capital became the first German city to violate a new EU guideline on air pollution. According to Bavaria’s state environmental protection authority, the quantity of airborne dust in the city’s air exceeded 50 micrograms per cubic meter at the end of March for the 36th time this year. The guideline, which came into force on January 1, stipulates that the limit should not be exceeded more than 35 times a year. Other German cities, including Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, are close to the limit.
Germany’s Ministry for the Environment is calling on its state governments to speed up plans to fit vehicles with filters that remove noxious particles from diesel exhausts, which, along with industrial emissions, are a major source of the pollution. Some 40 percent of fine dust is caused by industrial pollution, 30 percent by car fumes, while the remainder comes from various sources, such as wood burning and tire production, says Wassilis Tzimas, a Munich-based lung and environmental doctor.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe, an environmental group, has said it will take the City of Munich to court to seek emergency measures to protect citizens’ health, such as road closures for heavy vehicles. The German environment association has accused both the Bavarian government and the authorities in Munich of failing to take the necessary preventative measures. “Unlike cities such as Düsseldorf or Dortmund, which have banned certain diesel vehicles to protect the population, the city of Munich refuses to concern itself with protecting the health of its citizens,” it claims.
The worst-affected areas in Munich are inevitably the city’s heavy traffic zones. These include Luise-Kiesselbach-Platz and Prinzregentenstrasse. Munich’s Landshuter Allee, meanwhile, has the highest levels of fine dust in Germany. Road tolls are exacerbating the problem, causing large trucks to boycott the A99 and to use the Mittlerer Ring running through the city instead.
Airborne dust is measured according to an international standard called “PM10,” or “Particulate Matter,” which is between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in size. Such particles are 25 to 100 times thinner than a human hair and comprise soot, smoke, dust and pollen. A PM10 value of 100 indicates that 100 micrograms of particles are suspended in one cubic meter of air. The average annual PM10 levels for Munich are around 30 to 50.
So how dangerous are Munich’s air-pollution levels? Airborne dust can be dangerous at a level lower than 10 PM10, as the particles can be breathed in to the lungs and then absorbed into the body’s blood cells, says Tzimas. If these microparticles are regularly inhaled, they can cause brain toxicity, inflammation of the bronchial tubes, slow the growth of children’s lungs and shorten people’s life expectancy by six to nine months. When the airborne dust particles are larger than 40 mg, they could trigger chronic bronchitis, he says.
People shouldn’t be scared of airborne dust but they do have cause for concern, says Tzimas. In the long term, if changes aren’t introduced, such as filters being installed in all cars, Tzimas expects people’s quality of life to deteriorate. He advises people to buy only cars that are fitted with diesel filters or catalyzers, not to expose themselves to industrial pollution and, above all, not to smoke: a single cigarette contains as much dust as that emitted by a car over two hours. <<<
