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Study finds respiratory problems purely environmental linked
- respiratory health ailment levels among world's highest

The Respiratory Health Survey of Fgura and Zejtun released last week by Drs Jason Bonnici and Martin Balzan revealed the ugly truth of the toll that environmental pollution is taking on the Maltese population, with asthma and other respiratory conditions among the people of Fgura and Zejtun being among the highest in the world.

Survey co-author Dr Jason Bonnici, speaking to MaltaToday last week, affirmed that the cause of the alarming levels he uncovered are the direct result of environmental pollution, while dismissing the hypothesis that the problem might somehow be genetic.

He explains, "Experience among medical practitioners is pointing towards the fact that the asthma rates found are due to environmental pollution. It is very unlikely that the cause is genetic.

"We are meeting with newly diagnosed asthmatics at an elderly age. If an elderly person becomes asthmatic at this age, then it must be environmental. If it were genetic, one would expect it to appear before the person would reach their twenties.

"Given the fact that the problem is mostly environmental, the effects of long-term pollution will be cumulative. The more one is exposed, the more likely he or she is going to develop symptoms. The fact that we, as medical practitioners, are encountering newly diagnosed asthmatics at an elderly age supports this evidence."

Meanwhile, the study showed a strikingly higher rate of respiratory problems among women from the areas under scrutiny. Dr Bonnici explains that over half the women participating were housewives, implying that they would spend the better part of their time in their respective localities. These women are, accordingly, the best indicators of respiratory problems in terms of location of residence.

Given the alarming levels unearthed by the survey, Dr Bonnici has called for urgent action to be taken to counteract the health risk caused by pollution - giving a three-fold starting point for such action.

Firstly, Dr Bonnici has called for an air monitoring system to be set up in Fgura to measure the amount and type of air pollutants found in the air, while making the results readily available to the public.

Dr Bonnici's second recommendation concerns pollution being emitted from vehicles, especially from those running on diesel. Within this scope, Dr Bonnici recommends first a strong educational campaign focussing on the ills of pollution from diesel and petrol cars and on the benefits of cars running on lead-free petrol with catalytic converters. The second approach deals with the diversion of traffic from heavily populated areas.

Dr Bonnici's third recommendation concerns the decrepit Marsa power station, explaining, "Few countries can boast of a fossil fuel-run power station in the middle of its most densely populated areas. If the shut-down of the Marsa power station is really not possible, we encourage further reductions in the content of fossil fuels."