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There was talk about it but I saw cars and trucks blowing black smoke.
Crackdown on polluting vehicles
JAMAICA is cracking down vehicles which belch excessive amounts of health and environment-damaging gases from their exhausts. But the island apparently has no clear standards for motor vehicle emission or the equipment to test the polluters.
Officials, however, are attempting to pull together a more structured programme to monitor air quality and to, where they exist, enforce standards.
For now, environmental wardens, who are the forefront of the campaign, just use their judgement.
When on patrol -- as was the case recently in Portland -- and a vehicle is pulled over because of concerns about its emissions, the driver is asked to rev his engine. If there is heavy smoke, he could receive a ticket from the police who accompany the wardens.
"We just check how much smoke comes out when they rev their engines," explained Theodore Rhone, the deputy co-ordinator of the Environmental Warden Service. "We don't have any set standards."
In fact, the charge, for which the fine is between $500 and $1,000, is for driving a defective vehicle.
That day in Portland, the police and wardens stopped 54 vehicles, whose drivers were asked to do an engine-rev test. In the judgement of the wardens, 25 of the vehicles were in the safe zone. Another 19 were on the borderline and issued warnings. Ten were ticketed.
The ignorance of them by the environmental wardens notwithstanding, Paulette Kolbusch, head of environmental standards and regulations at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), insists that there are motor vehicle emission standards for Jamaica.
It is just that the country is not in a position as yet to afford the equipment to adequately monitor the standards, which, in fact, are now under review. According to Kolbusch, the new standards will clearly define acceptable exhaust standards.
"We are almost finished with the regulations on air quality control and we have already started revising the emission standards for motor vehicles," said Paulette Kolbusch.
She explained that the air quality control regulations dealt mostly with industrial facilities that polluted the atmosphere, rather than transportation vehicles, such as cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships.
"I cannot at this point say where the revisions are or what changes will be made," Kolbusch said, when asked to elaborate on the changes.
The current standards were not immediately available and information about air quality generally was in dense, scientific language, not easily accessible to the ordinary person.
Jamaica has long been concerned about the problem of air quality, including the contribution of vehicles to polluting the atmosphere and campaigns of the kind now being pursued by the environmental wardens are not new. In 1995, for instance, the government told the police to start pulling from the road what was then common -- trucks and buses, billowing black smoke. The environmental wardens themselves have, since 1997, sporadically monitored vehicles for excessive emissions.
Fewer of these extreme cases of vehicles leaving a trail of thick, black smoke behind them, choking anyone nearby and limiting visibility, are apparent today. Jamaica's opening its market to second-hand vehicles, mainly from Japan, has allowed for newer vehicles on the road.
But that too, has had its consequences. There are far more vehicles in Jamaica today with the potential for a greater cumulative impact. A study done in 2000 by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on air quality management programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, named Jamaica as one of three countries in the region that has a well-defined legal system but "not an air quality and emission control programme".
According to the study, recent estimates suggest that over 100 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are exposed to air pollution levels exceeding World Health Organisation guidelines.
"Exposure to air pollution may produce or aggravate respiratory and heart conditions and other health problems," it pointed out. "Air pollution can be particularly harmful to people with chronic lung or heart diseases, pregnant women, the elderly and children. The level, extent, and duration of the exposure, age, individual susceptibility and other factors will determine whether someone will experience pollution related health problems."
The study collected its information through questionnaires sent to PAHO representatives in each country.
At the time, Jamaica's response said that it did not have in place emission standards for mobile sources or mandatory inspection and maintenance for motor vehicles and the study, done by Marcelo E Korc, regional advisor on air pollution control, said that the health impact of air pollution was viewed as a low priority area in Jamaica.
The campaign of the environmental wardens apart, there has been some concrete action in Jamaica to bring down atmospheric pollution caused by motor vehicle emission with the phasing out, for instance, of the sale of leaded gasolene here, starting the mid 1990s.
In 2000, energy ministry officials estimated that vehicles in Jamaica pumped 95 tonnes of lead into the atmosphere, but noted that this was down 43 per cent from three years earlier.
This, however, does not address the chemicals emitted from motor vehicles.
Diesel vehicles, for example, emit fine particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) which react with volatile organic compounds in the presence of heat and sunlight to produce ground-level ozone. This is the primary ingredient of smog. When inhaled, ground-level ozone can cause inflammation of breathing passages, shortness of breath and wheezing, respiratory pain and discomfort, headaches and nausea.
Diesel particulates carry toxic compounds resulting from the incomplete combustion of diesel fuel. These particles, which are the primary constituents in thick black exhaust smoke, are small enough to be deeply inhaled into the lungs and retained in the body
The Korc study said that efforts to control air pollution in the region have been inconsistent and recommended that countries develop and strengthen their national and local air quality programmes. It also noted that PAHO had a regional 10-year plan on air quality and health, which would help countries with funding and other resources to support air quality activities.
It was not clear from Jamaican officials last week. if the island has attempted to tap into the PAHO programme.
JAMAICA is cracking down vehicles which belch excessive amounts of health and environment-damaging gases from their exhausts. But the island apparently has no clear standards for motor vehicle emission or the equipment to test the polluters.
Officials, however, are attempting to pull together a more structured programme to monitor air quality and to, where they exist, enforce standards.
For now, environmental wardens, who are the forefront of the campaign, just use their judgement.
When on patrol -- as was the case recently in Portland -- and a vehicle is pulled over because of concerns about its emissions, the driver is asked to rev his engine. If there is heavy smoke, he could receive a ticket from the police who accompany the wardens.
"We just check how much smoke comes out when they rev their engines," explained Theodore Rhone, the deputy co-ordinator of the Environmental Warden Service. "We don't have any set standards."
In fact, the charge, for which the fine is between $500 and $1,000, is for driving a defective vehicle.
That day in Portland, the police and wardens stopped 54 vehicles, whose drivers were asked to do an engine-rev test. In the judgement of the wardens, 25 of the vehicles were in the safe zone. Another 19 were on the borderline and issued warnings. Ten were ticketed.
The ignorance of them by the environmental wardens notwithstanding, Paulette Kolbusch, head of environmental standards and regulations at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), insists that there are motor vehicle emission standards for Jamaica.
It is just that the country is not in a position as yet to afford the equipment to adequately monitor the standards, which, in fact, are now under review. According to Kolbusch, the new standards will clearly define acceptable exhaust standards.
"We are almost finished with the regulations on air quality control and we have already started revising the emission standards for motor vehicles," said Paulette Kolbusch.
She explained that the air quality control regulations dealt mostly with industrial facilities that polluted the atmosphere, rather than transportation vehicles, such as cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships.
"I cannot at this point say where the revisions are or what changes will be made," Kolbusch said, when asked to elaborate on the changes.
The current standards were not immediately available and information about air quality generally was in dense, scientific language, not easily accessible to the ordinary person.
Jamaica has long been concerned about the problem of air quality, including the contribution of vehicles to polluting the atmosphere and campaigns of the kind now being pursued by the environmental wardens are not new. In 1995, for instance, the government told the police to start pulling from the road what was then common -- trucks and buses, billowing black smoke. The environmental wardens themselves have, since 1997, sporadically monitored vehicles for excessive emissions.
Fewer of these extreme cases of vehicles leaving a trail of thick, black smoke behind them, choking anyone nearby and limiting visibility, are apparent today. Jamaica's opening its market to second-hand vehicles, mainly from Japan, has allowed for newer vehicles on the road.
But that too, has had its consequences. There are far more vehicles in Jamaica today with the potential for a greater cumulative impact. A study done in 2000 by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on air quality management programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, named Jamaica as one of three countries in the region that has a well-defined legal system but "not an air quality and emission control programme".
According to the study, recent estimates suggest that over 100 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are exposed to air pollution levels exceeding World Health Organisation guidelines.
"Exposure to air pollution may produce or aggravate respiratory and heart conditions and other health problems," it pointed out. "Air pollution can be particularly harmful to people with chronic lung or heart diseases, pregnant women, the elderly and children. The level, extent, and duration of the exposure, age, individual susceptibility and other factors will determine whether someone will experience pollution related health problems."
The study collected its information through questionnaires sent to PAHO representatives in each country.
At the time, Jamaica's response said that it did not have in place emission standards for mobile sources or mandatory inspection and maintenance for motor vehicles and the study, done by Marcelo E Korc, regional advisor on air pollution control, said that the health impact of air pollution was viewed as a low priority area in Jamaica.
The campaign of the environmental wardens apart, there has been some concrete action in Jamaica to bring down atmospheric pollution caused by motor vehicle emission with the phasing out, for instance, of the sale of leaded gasolene here, starting the mid 1990s.
In 2000, energy ministry officials estimated that vehicles in Jamaica pumped 95 tonnes of lead into the atmosphere, but noted that this was down 43 per cent from three years earlier.
This, however, does not address the chemicals emitted from motor vehicles.
Diesel vehicles, for example, emit fine particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) which react with volatile organic compounds in the presence of heat and sunlight to produce ground-level ozone. This is the primary ingredient of smog. When inhaled, ground-level ozone can cause inflammation of breathing passages, shortness of breath and wheezing, respiratory pain and discomfort, headaches and nausea.
Diesel particulates carry toxic compounds resulting from the incomplete combustion of diesel fuel. These particles, which are the primary constituents in thick black exhaust smoke, are small enough to be deeply inhaled into the lungs and retained in the body
The Korc study said that efforts to control air pollution in the region have been inconsistent and recommended that countries develop and strengthen their national and local air quality programmes. It also noted that PAHO had a regional 10-year plan on air quality and health, which would help countries with funding and other resources to support air quality activities.
It was not clear from Jamaican officials last week. if the island has attempted to tap into the PAHO programme.
