TORONTO — Air in Toronto’s subway system is polluted, the general public well being division mentioned in a report issued on Monday calling on the transit system to mitigate it.
The report discovered that tremendous particle air air pollution, or PM2.5, publicity ranges within the transit system warrants mitigation “as a result of reductions would have well being advantages for passengers.”
PM2.5, or particles lower than 2.5 microns in diameter, have been proven to be strongly related to cardiovascular and respiratory points, in keeping with Well being Canada.
Toronto’s metropolis council has requested the transit board to search out long-term measures to enhance air high quality within the metropolis’s subway system, in keeping with the report.
The Toronto Transit Fee, in a press release, concurred with the division’s suggestions for short- and longer-term measures.
“We stay totally dedicated to persevering with our world-leading efforts in subway air high quality enchancment,” TTC spokesman Stuart Inexperienced mentioned.
The report mentioned the system’s air high quality is in step with related transit programs in different cities.
A member of Amalgamated Transit Union Native 113, which represents greater than 12,000 Toronto transit staff, has filed a personal prosecution case in opposition to the fee.
The case alleges the TTC allowed the discharge of contaminants within the subway system in violation of Ontario’s Environmental Safety Act.
“The truth that the Toronto Public Well being is recommending quick, in addition to mid- and long-term mitigation measures signifies there are apparent dangers,” transit union President Carlos Santos mentioned in a press release on Monday. (Reporting by Denise Paglinawan; enhancing by Anna Mehler Paperny and Dan Grebler)