Pollution Masks

[james_moat]

First note: other mask manufacturers exist, I'm not promoting this product, just asking if anybody else uses one, or one similar. ;-)

______________

Right,

so I have purchased a Respro mask...'techno' in fact, as it is claimed, and a couple of spare filter packs. It's cheaper to buy them in the UK, instead of getting them from Hong Kong.

I'll be in Beijing for a substantial time, very likely a few years, and have a lot of worries about the pollution there. I've been to Beijing before for short stays, and have seen how the days can vary.

First of all, is there a decent trustworthy website that shows the different pollution levels throughout Beijing, instead of just one random average number, which likely doesn't mean much on its own? I wouldn't trust any government to report their pollution indexes correctly, which is why I wish to spread my bets when reading this information off government websites.

Secondly, does anybody here cycle, or even just walk, using one of these masks, Respro in particular? I plan on cycling (naturally not intensively in Beijing, given the traffic, just general commuting), but currently live in the UK in an area with exceptional air quality. I already look like a fool on a bike anyway, so a mask isn't going to bother me. My real concern is how the air affects my lungs and overall health after a few years in Beijing, or anywhere polluted in any country.

Thirdly, are these particular filters available readily in Beijing? Although Beijing's better than other Chinese cities or towns, fake products are still available in the market place unfortunately.

(As extra information to those interested, don't bother with the cheaper filter/mask combination from the brand mentioned above, as they only really filter a limited number of chemicals. I've not used the techno mask yet, but will post how it turns out once I'm in Beijing, which is soon.)

[zerolife]

unless you have a medical concern, I think wearing a mask everyday is a bit overboard ;)

Yes, BJ is relatively more polluted than cities in Europe but what we hear in the media here is overexaggerated.

No people don't wear pollution masks when walking around in BJ (maybe there are some ppl wearing masks due to the swine flu now).

Seriously, millions of people walk & cycle around in BJ, and they all survived. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the rate for asthma & other chronic respiratory disease in China is much lower than in UK.

If you ask me, don't make yourself look like an idiot running around with a pollution mask, and more importantly, wearing a mask in BJ summer heat is going to be very uncomfortable.

[james_moat]

I would have to disagree with the notion that millions of people walked about Beijing and all 'survived'. I've noticed many Chinese people seem to have this attitude, as if it's some sort of masculine comparison. The great thing about modern science is that everybody (in the West?) knows long term exposure to car exhaust fumes and the other particulate matter that we all call 'pollution' can stay in our lungs, and cause all sorts of problem when we're older. I've heard enough old people coughing their lungs up in Beijing, some with asthma (I like striking up conversations with random people,) to know that they are aware the pollution is a major problem. It's worse than London of the 1980's, and although better now, is a serious problem. If you walk about when it's really smoggy without a care in the world, you're really just damaging your health in the long term. Don't go overboard and stress about it of course, but precautions are good.

You say the media is over-exaggerated - is it?! The government figures for the air pollution index are reported bi-hourly in Beijing. They tell all there is to know, go compare them to the other countries we see as developed, and then read the science behind the figures. Beijing is *not* the worst in the world by a long shot. Having been to Cairo, I know fine well what bad air is all about.

Fact is, micro particulate matter definitely affects the health of humans. I wont wear a mask every day, but on particularly bad days, or when cycling amongst heavy traffic - basically any time cycling - then I would suggest a thoroughly tested mask product would help substantially.

I have a friend in Beijing who, with no change in diet, went from moderate cough and burning lungs after cycling to work 10km and back every week day, to someone who can breathe properly again, using a certain type of certified mask. After some research I also spoke to other people, cyclists too incidentally, who said the masks were invaluable.

If I was commuter cycling in parts of London, I'd wear a functional mask, and so in Beijing, I'm sorry to inform you, it is currently worse. Respiratory diseases and asthma are heavily on the rise in Beijing, particularly amongst the young and elderly, which is sad given the efforts to try ease congestion on the roads.

Also, just wearing a paper mask does *nothing* to stop catching the rather over-hyped H1N1 flu, although the mask would at least alleviate spreading germs personally through coughing without using your hand. I think a definition of 'working mask' should be applied in the scenario I am suggesting.

That is to say, in heavy traffic commuting via bicycle, I think a tested mask is invaluable. Keep in mind that I'm not worried about 'methane' gas, or CO2, the incorrectly solely fingered suspects of global warming. My main worries are car fumes, both petrol and diesel, and the other gasses cars produce or on severely bad days, fumes from neighboring city factories.

Edited May 13, 2009 at 09:42 PM by james_moat

[YuehanHao]

I can't help with the questions, but I would be considering my options too if I were to exert myself regularly outdoors, based on the trip I took to Beijing (just walking around the city for a week or so was enough to develop a bit of a cough), health (read somewhere that China is among the fastest growing in respiratory disease) and pollution statistics I have run across, and anecdotes from others who visited different cities such as a colleague of mine whose asthmatic daughter had acute breathing problems due to the poor air quality in Xian. The lack of confidence one may sense from official pronouncements on air quality just exacerbates the concern. Good luck.

约翰好

[moderntime]

I bike regularly, about an hour to an hour and a half every two or three days. I started out not wearing a mask, realized that I was a complete idiot when I would show up to class hacking like I was dying, and now I wear a 16-layer doctor's mask whenever I bike. The route where I bike also happens to be slated for destruction, so the debris and dust in the air is intense. So my doctor's mask may not be Respro, but for 4 RMB, it's pretty awesome.

The US Embassy in Beijing keeps track of the pollution levels at http://twitter.com/BeijingAir and I also go by that to determine if I'll bike or not, and when it says Hazardous I'll also wear my mask just to go out. Maybe it's overkill, but after years of living in China, I'd rather go with overkill.

[roddy]

Excellent - I was going to post earlier that you'd have to rely on government figures as non-government data gathering is probably illegal. Hadn't occurred that the US Embassy might use its little bit of sovereign soil to host its own monitoring station.

[james_moat]

Thanks very much moderntime, that is a very useful source of data. Where I am from it can be a huge difference just 1 mile away, which is why multiple data sources (not just cherry picked) are of huge importance. Some councils in the UK are guilty of wishing to slightly hide the real levels of pollution, however, one of the sources I found, accurate or not, is:

http://www.sepa.gov.cn

You can also do a past search if you click underneath the table to go back as long as you wish. Again though, searching for 'Beijing' and an average of the entire metropolis seems a bit pointless to me, but an indicator at best.

The only other masks reasonably easy to acquire here in the UK are half-face industrial/medical masks that are one-use and very expensive. As the respro has a secondary charcoal filter, I went for that one, although expensive I agree. To me wearing a medical type mask would make me look strange enough - I get looks due to my eye and hair colour enough as it is, so having on a funky looking cycling mask would probably just add a bit of effect. Otherwise, with a white - perhaps not really filtering anything, but your mileage may vary - medical mask, people will think I look like a psychopath, instead of just a bad cyclist

[roddy]

You might be able to find figures from the environmental bureaus for Beijing's districts - here's Haidian.

[xiaojiang216]

Hi all -

I will be in Beijing from September to December and was wondering if I should consider purchasing a pollution mask. I am not a commuting cycler, and I will probably be doing most of my strenuous exercise indoors (in a martial arts school). I don't have asthma or any kind of respiratory problem, but I am still concerned about whether or not I should have one for particularly bad days.

Any advice on whether or not I should get one, and perhaps what kind?

Thanks!

[Jane_PA]

I would not worry about the sand storm in the fall or in the winter in Beijing. The sand storm usually happens in the Spring...

[Brian US]

I'm going to use a more athletically active friend as a resource on this one. He explained it's very important to make sure your gym has a good filtering system. His reasoning is if you are doing heavy cardio and breathing 10x heavier then you are breathing in 10x more pollutants. This is compounded greater in a poorly ventilated building.

[Altea]

Hi James,

My son went to Beijing and he's had asthma since he was three, with a few emergency hospital stays. So, when he decided to go to BLCU I was obviously worried (also if he could get hold of his medicine).

However, since in Beijing he had hardly any problem with his asthma :rolleyes: Don't ask me why but this is the reality. It was much worse in the UK and in Europe.

And he did not live in cities, nor in the UK nor in Europe, but in small towns...

Pollution is quite bad in the EU as well, as any flight taken will confirm as the view from above shows the thick smog hovering above the continent and the UK.

Though of letting you know.

Altea