Why Toronto needs to ban Gas Leaf Blowers (GLBs)

Harmful airborne particle pollution can linger in the air for a week or longer.

The powerful exhaust from GLBs is the main source of harmful dust in residential neighbourhoods.   

• The exhaust jetting out of the front end of a gas leaf blower is moving at over 200 miles an hour. The disbursed air pulverizes what it hits into very fine dust.  

  Finer than the dust found in nature, it can stay airborne for days. Dust can cause long term health issues. Evidence indicates that the quality of outdoor air directly influences indoor air quality, including within homes.

• Much of this dust is tiny, inhalable Particulate Matter or PM is less than 10 microns in diameter, which gets past the protective cilia in our airways and lodges in our lungs.  Children are especially vulnerable to the harm caused by air pollutants. Their smaller bodies, developing brains, and respiratory systems make them more vulnerable to the health effects of poor air quality and have lifelong consequences.

• Dust from yard cleanup operations blowing all the stuff that’s on the ground up into the air contains animal feces, molds, bacteria, fungus, fertilizer, and pesticides.  

• Dust from the street contains metals, including lead, carbon black from tire wear and asbestos from brake pad wear. All are carcinogens. 

• According to a recent report issued by researchers at Imperial College London, “There is emerging evidence that rubber tire wear particles and other particulate matter may contribute to a range of negative health impacts including heart, lung, developmental, reproductive, and cancer outcomes.”

• “ Outdoor fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) contributes to millions of deaths around the world each year, but much less is known about the long-term health impacts of other particulate air pollutants including ultrafine particles (a.k.a. nanoparticles) which are in the nanometer size range (<100 nm), widespread in urban environments, and not currently regulated. Long-term exposure to outdoor ultrafine particles was associated with increased risk of mortality. We estimated the mortality burden for outdoor ultrafine particles in Montreal and Toronto, to be approximately 1100 additional nonaccidental deaths every year. As outdoor ultrafine particles are not currently regulated, there is great potential for future regulatory interventions to improve population health by targeting these common outdoor air pollutants. “

  American Journal of Respiratory and Central Care Medicine, June 24, 2024