Brush-off given to fears for city health

QUEENSLAND Health has denied residents along the suburban rail corridor are at any risk from coal dust.

QUEENSLAND Health has denied residents along the suburban rail corridor are at any risk from coal dust, claiming current levels fall within safe guidelines.

But some medical experts say coal particulates, a fraction of the width of a human hair and carried by the wind, can cause respiratory problems among vulnerable populations and pose a risk of long-term lung and heart disease.

Despite numerous studies about the potential danger, QH and the coal industry continue to downplay the dangers.

Sophie Dwyer, the executive director of health protection at Queensland Health, said people shouldn't be concerned.

"Queensland Health does not anticipate coal trains in city areas represent a public health risk, based on the probable large particle size of any coal dust emanating from passing trains and the likely low concentrations in inhaled air," she said.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said "there is extensive evidence already existing regarding the levels of health risk that might be associated with various concentrations of coal dust in the air.

"This documented evidence allows us to make a judgment about the level of risk to a community associated with a particular concentration of coal dust in the air without having to test people generally."

But a major new health and coal-mining study authored by University of Sydney Medical School professor Ruth Colagiuri concluded "there are clear indications from the international health research literature that there are serious health and social harms associated with coal mining".

The health harms included "higher mortality rates from lung cancer, chronic heart, respiratory and kidney diseases" and increased hospitalisation, the study said.

Former University of Adelaide professor of medicine Dr David Shearman compares inhalation of the smallest coal particulates (PM2.5 and less) to smoking.

Larger particulates (PM10) lodge in the upper respiratory system, while smaller ones penetrate deeply in the the lungs.

"Generally it's an injurious problem," said Dr Shearman, secretary of Doctors for the Environment Australia. "Someone prone to asthma may have an asthma attack and, if exposed over many years, may develop a chronic disease in the heart and lungs."

"I think public health authorities have been very negligent on the issue; they haven't done studies to see if people are exposed."

While higher levels of coal dust exposure pose the greatest risk, "prudence should tell us any level can be harmful," he said.

QR National declined to comment on the health risks of moving coal.

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COAL DUST, RAIL NOISE AN ORDEAL

PENSIONERS Jack and Audrey Rance, Tennyson residents for 16 years, are among those losing sleep and living in homes covered in black dust in Brisbane's coal train corridor.

The passenger and freight trains never used to bother them. Now the noise of screeching brakes and diesel engines, exhaust fumes and constant black dust from coal trains are a daily ordeal.

Black lines form in their swimming pool from the dust, and Mr Rance, who has asthma, worries generally about his health.

Annerley resident Peta Weatherley said black dust washed off her roof and collected in her rainwater tank filter. "A black film forms on my windowsills. Whether or not there's a danger we don't know," she said.

"I'd like to have more information. My daughter has some complicated health issues, I'm concerned for her sake. We don't have the ability to move."

Another Annerley resident Jacqueline Schneider believes the loads should be covered.

"There are quite a few schools along the railway lines as well. Trucks have to cover their loads. It's hard to understand why QR don't think it's necessary."

None of the residents interviewed along the rail corridor can understand why the coal wagons aren't required to be covered.

They are glad theGovernment has conducted air quality tests in Tennyson, but Mr Rance noticed a recent change. "Since they have been doing the monitoring, the trains have been travelling at a snail's pace," he said.

- Tuck Thompson