kills 8.8 million people worldwide per
year—more than tobacco smoking.
Sin adds that women’s lungs seem
particularly susceptible to cancer from
pollution. Currently, 10,000 Canadian
women die of lung cancer every year,
and 15 per cent of new cases are peo-
ple who have never smoked. “In Can-
ada, the number of lung-cancer deaths
in female non-smokers will very soon
probably outstrip the number of deaths
from breast cancer, because lung can-
cer is so lethal,” he says.
Contributing to air pollution are the
8,000 wildfires we experience every year
in Canada, like those that devastated
large areas of Alberta this past spring.
These are increasing in frequency and
intensity with our hotter, drier spells.
A study in the Canadian Journal of
Emergency Medicine found that pre-
scriptions for an asthma and COPD
drug rose by 22 per cent in the Yellow-
knife region in the summer of 2014,
when it was engulfed by wildfire smoke.
The number of ER visits for breathing
problems was 42 per cent higher; for
children, it more than doubled.
Judy Mori, 69, lives near Vernon, in
British Columbia’s Okanagan region,
and has interstitial lung disease, which
causes scarring and breathing prob-
lems. “These last two or three sum-
mers of severe fires have been pretty
bad,” she says—so bad, in fact, that the
sky turns grey, a campfire smell lingers
in the air, and some have dubbed the
valley “Smokanagan.”
Exposing herself to smoky air could
lead to a deadly lung infection, so Mori
has to seal herself indoors when her
weather-tracking app indicates poor
conditions. That can last for weeks.
And even if your lungs are healthy, you
should avoid breathing in smog or
smoke because of potential long-term
damage from chronic inflammation.
Another threat to breathing is mould,
which is a concern in areas with
repeated flooding, such as around
New Brunswick’s Saint John River,
where floodwaters have infiltrated
homes for two years in a row and dis-
placed more than 200 families. Moulds
produce toxins and spores that can
trigger allergic reactions or infections
if inhaled. Rising sea levels and
increased urban development, com-
bined with intense rainfalls, mean we
will see a lot more of it.
To avoid breathing polluted air, wear
a mask rated N95—not a surgical mask,
which is useless, says Sin. “Those are
too flimsy. They won’t protect you at
all from air particles.” On bad-air days,
get your exercise indoors, for instance
by walking in an air-conditioned mall.YYYOURRR HEAAARTT CCANNN’TT
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“A lot of people don’t realize that all
that stuff you breathe also gets into
your blood vessels,” says Dibble.
When the cardiovascular system
becomes inflamed, plaque can buildrd.ca 37