CLEANAIRTAS - Keeping you informed

Stay up to date with the latest smoke and air quality information

Current air quality

Latest Updates

Feb 4, 2025 – LGH AIRCON PROBLEMS

TO BE FIXED.  But when?  ABC NEWS

Ombudsman Tas has directed DoH  release FOI decision no later than 10 June 2025

TAS ALERTS – INCIDENTS & WARNINGS

CRACKER NIGHTS – More to be allowed.  Asthma Australia, Lung Foundation, Tas Dept. of Health to respond.

Sir Stephen Holgate, Professor of Immunopharmacology and a respiratory physician

Where ever you are in the world you need clean air to breathe.

When you can’t breathe nothing else matters.

BEWARE: Not all P2 respirators are the same

Not all masks are suitable for smoke &
Not all masks give protection against viruses

P2 or N95 Particulate filters on their own will not remove gases, chemicals or Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). 

And,

Activated-carbon filters on their own will not remove fine particulates.

This is why the respirator you use for bushfire smoke should have both a carbon filter for the gases and a P2 filter for the particulates.

3M recommends their 9923V model for bushfire smoke.

Baggy blue surgical masks will not stop viruses or smoke.

They only have a filtration factor of 30% meaning you are breathing 70% unfiltered air or much greater with gaping gaps up the side where they do not mate to the face.

RESPIRATOR MASK STANDARDS

  • N95 (United States NIOSH-42CFR84), 
  • FFP2 (Europe EN 149-2001), 
  • KN95 (China GB2626-2006),
  • P2 (Australia/New Zealand AS/NZA 1716:2012),
  • Korea 1st  class (Korea KMOEL – 2017-64)
  • DS2 (Japan JMHLW-Notification 214, 2018),
  • PFF2 (ABNT/NBR 13.698-2011 – Brazil)
fb.com/PoliticalCartoonsAustralia

Landmark decision to protect present and future generations

Judge Hill in Washington State recognizes Constitutional and Public Trust Rights. Announces it is the Washington Department of Ecology’s Legal Duty to Protect Atmosphere for Present and Future Generations. Read more…
Surely no child should have to breathe air that could kill them.

...you don’t necessarily get away from air pollution by being further from the sources

e.g. Australia’s January 2020 bush fire smoke covered parts of New Zealand.

“There has got to be an understanding that people who complain about smoke have a legitimate case, the medical science is on their side now.” – Professor David Bowman, Tasmania. ABC News Feb. 20, 2012.
 
And, Fire Ecologist & Fire Geographer Prof David Bowman says who cares whether we achieve fuel management with burning, fuel management can be achieved with brushcutters or goats – First published on ABC The Drum 13.11.2019.
“Outdoor air pollution a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths.” – IARC 17/10/2013.
 
The specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), announced today that it has classified outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). 
 
After thoroughly reviewing the latest available scientific literature, world leading experts convened by the IARC Monographs Programme concluded that there is sufficient evidence that exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer (Group 1). They also noted a positive association with an increased risk of bladder cancer.
 
Particulate matter, a major component of outdoor air pollution, was evaluated separately and was also classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).
NOTE: Similar Group 1 carcinogens are asbestos, arsenic, formaldehyde, and mustard gas.

Tragically only half of all women diagnosed with lung cancer are alive one year after diagnosis. Lung cancer has a five-year survival rate of just 16 percent.

Air pollution is a "silent killer" and is unique in that it affects the entire population

Wood smoke is primarily made up of particulate matter, i.e. PM2.5 and PM10.
 
The  World Health Organisation’s IARC has declared particulate matter as a class 1 carcinogen, just the same as arsenic, asbestos, formaldehyde and mustard gas to name a few nasties.
 
Now you wouldn’t breathe those in for any duration would you so why are you happy to breathe deliberate wood smoke from any source? It is up to you to speak up.
 
Burning causes a flamable landscape. The more you burn the more you will have to burn. Bushfires, wildfires, plannedburns, prescribed fire convert our landscape to be fire tolerant. It is the fire loving plants that come back first.
 
Others sometimes never come back! Rapid attack with sufficient resources must be used to completely put fires out when they start.

Tasmania has been known to put forestry before health

Nearly all the fire on earth has been ignited by humans. At its core, wildfire is a human problem.

98% of all wildfires are caused by humans – (34Kb download)

Exposure to air pollution increases violent crime rates, study finds

The team found strong links between short-term exposure to air pollution and aggressive behaviour.

Particulate pollution is the most important contaminant in our air...We know that when levels go up people die.

Pyromania is a disease.

Stop deliberate ambient smoke at the source.

There is no other way to fix our toxic health problems.

Treat the few with pyromania and most of these other diseases won’t be a problem.

Indoor and outdoor air quality

Understanding air pollution and your lung health

Air pollution can affect everyone’s health. Outdoor air pollution is linked to health impacts and no level of air pollution is safe to breathe. Lung Foundation Australia is committed to working for clean air to support and protect lung health for all Australians.

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

“Environmental justice is defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies

Put out by the World Health Organisation (WHO)