Australia: For Study of Bushfire Smoke Long-term Effects Top Pollution Experts are Teaming-up

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Australia’s top pollution experts are teaming up to propose a major new study into the long-term health impacts of bushfire smoke are seeking funding to study the health impacts of bushfire smoke. According to earlier studies at the effects of 45 days of smoke inhalation founds pregnant women were more likely to contract gestational diabetes.

Bushfires are responsible for a smoke haze which has been affecting the quality of air breathed by millions of people, including those living in Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne; whereas, Melbourne’s air quality to be ranked the worst in the world comes as Victoria is choked in toxic fumes.

Some Sydney suburbs have recorded air quality more than 10 times worse than what is considered hazardous.

Professor Guy Marks from the University of New South Wales said he was not confident in the current health advice offered by authorities because there was very little evidence available. He is putting together a team of two dozen top Australian researchers to investigate the medical fallout from the fires and according to him significant government funding will be required, but the research will be world leading.

He added, “This is a new reality that we’re living with. It’s likely this is not going to be the last such episode and we need to know more about what the health effects are.”

Researchers hope to conduct a range of studies, including human experimental tests to see how effective P2 masks are and toxicology tests to see how smoke particles affect the bloodstream.

To date, the closest comparable study available in Australia is an academic paper on the Hazelwood coal fire in 2014.

Residents in the nearby town of Morwell endured close to six weeks of toxic smoke after a bushfire ignited the mine.

When the air cleared, a team of researchers led by Monash’s Professor Michael Abramson studied the effects of 45 days of smoke inhalation on the residents in the small community.

The results surprised even the researchers.

Pregnant women, especially those in their second trimester, were more likely to contract gestational diabetes, a condition that affects the mother’s blood sugar level. About 16 women were affected, in the town of just over 13,000 people.

Their babies stored the extra sugar as fat and grew larger than normal.