The truth about our air

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/mccarry.jpg” caption=”Brian McCarry, professor and chair, Department of Chemistry.”]Ever wonder what exactly is in the air that we breathe in and out each day? McMaster's own Brian McCarry can tell us this and more. He can tell us what pollutants are in the air, how they will affect us, and most important what we can do to help prevent further pollution.

McCarry, chair of McMaster's Department of Chemistry, was recognized last night (Wednesday) for his work with a Hamilton Environmentalist of the Year Award. He was named the 26th recipient of the Dr. Victor Cecilioni Award at a banquet at the Hillcrest Restaurant.

McCarry, a professor at McMaster for about 28 years, has always had an interest in the field of chemistry. As a kid he took to the chemistry equipment that his parents had bought him and would experiment with it in his basement for hours. During high school his interest grew in chemistry not from a teacher but from his quest for more knowledge. It is this quest that has brought him to where he is today.

Today, McCarry has established himself not only within the University but also in the City of Hamilton. He holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Environment and Health chairs Clean Air Hamilton as well as runs the air monitoring for them and helps develop federal and provincial policies in the areas concerning the environment. Funded in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), McCarry has established himself as a leading researcher in air toxicity and has devoted himself to finding ways to help our society.

At McMaster, he studies and does his research in environmental chemistry and environmental toxicity. In simpler words, he studies our air and the toxins that are in it. In his research he has found that chemical corrosions found in our air can cause cancer. McCarry suggests that the mutations of these chemicals in our bodies are what cause cancer. He says, “Although these mutations are small, they are very real and can effect us.” These small mutations are what McCarry bases his research on.

To find these mutations McCarry uses a bio assay, meaning he examines the toxicity in our air so he can determine the genetic damage in an organism. “It is very similar to finding an antibiotic like how penicillin was found in growth on a petri dish,” McCarry says of the bio assay. “The bio assay is much the same only we watch the growth of mutations from air toxins.” From this assay he can find what air toxins if any are producing mutations in the DNA samples. The air samples are taken from the air we breathe everyday. McCarry is trying to prove that the air that we breathe is filled with chemical toxins from combustion type activity.

McCarry explains that transportation is the leading cause of these toxins because cars are so widely used in today's society. He describes that this is partly due to the fact that more and more people are choosing to move to the suburbs because the cost of living in the city is too high. Now, instead of having one car per family, there are now two because people drive more because most places are not walking distance.

What many people fail to realize is that anything that produces combustion will in turn produce these toxins in the air. Transportation is one more noticeable form of combustion, but things like burning a furnace or keeping lights on can have the same affect, because fossil fuels are burned to produce the electricity we use everyday. McCarry says, “The number one thing that affect our air and in turn our health is transportation and second is industrial plants.

“The number of miles that are being driven are increasing much faster than the population, and even in spite of the increase of fuel-efficient vehicles we are still producing way to many toxins.” He also suggests that the increase of Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) has also brought a drastic toll on our air. “These cars are only gas guzzlers and have big engines that are not needed,” says McCarry.

Being a prominent researcher, McCarry has done much work in trying to help change the community's environment and make people realize what exactly is going on in their air. However he cannot change the world by himself, and with his vast involvement in the Hamilton community he works with policy makers to help create solutions.

“I hope that policy makers realize that there is a problem with this pollution, and that this will affect not only today's generation but future generations ahead of us,” McCarry says when asked what he hopes his research will bring to the future.

McCarry has noticed through his research that emissions have been decreasing. However, “even though today we are producing 25 to 50 times less emission than 30 years ago, we still have more to do.” McCarry suggests things we can do to keep the air clean and emissions low. “People should carpool, keep their engine in good tune, buy fuel efficient vehicles, and use public transit more often.”

McCarry is not only a valuable asset to McMaster University, but also to the Hamilton community and beyond. He was recently recognized for his work on climate change and air quality with a 2005 Canadian Environment Award from Canadian Geographic. He will be presented the award June 6 at the Canadian Environment Awards Gala at Toronto's Liberty Grand. The Canadian Environment Awards is a national program established by Canadian Geographic in 2002 to recognize individuals and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the protection, restoration and preservation of the Canadian environment.

(NSERC's SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) program was launched in 1999 at 10 universities across Canada. Through SPARK, students with an aptitude for communications are recruited, trained and paid to write stories based on the NSERC supported research at participating universities.)