According to new research, an important pollutant of mining fossil fuels has been related to a higher risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Long -term exposure to sulfur dioxide, a component produced by fuel and oil -based fuel combustion, is associated with the development of neurodegenerative disease, an article published in Environmental Research found.
The study began after health workers at a provincial ELA clinic in New Brunswick, Canada, had noticed a higher incidence rate of patients in the region, said principal author Daniel Saucier, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec and main author of the document, said ABC News.
“If there are so many cases in New Brunswick, do you know, what is happening? What is causing it?” Saucier asked, who had just finished his master’s degree by researching diagnostic methods for ALS when the study began. “But we know very little about what it causes.”
United States Steel Mon Valley Works CLIRIRTON PLANT AND CLIRLTON COKE WORKS FACILY at CLIRIRTON PENNSYLVANIA, September 11, 2023.
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Saucier and his colleagues compared 304 people who had been diagnosed with ELA with 1,207 healthy people of the same age and sex, according to the document. They based the individual exposure of the subjects to pollutants based on environmental records of their housing speech.
Then, the researchers embarked on a quantitative study that analyzed the estimated levels of contamination in the primary residences of the subjects.
“And indeed, it seemed that air pollution was potentially related to the increase in cases of ELA in New Brunswick, with sulfur dioxide it seemed to be the one that had a significant association of ELA,” Saucier said.
The subjects had 23% higher to be diagnosed with ELA several years later, according to the study.
The study only analyzed the association, not causality.
It is not clear if there are SO2 increase groups in the region and, if so, what is causing it, he added.
The researchers focused on the levels of sulfur dioxide present before the ELA symptoms began to appear, compared to the levels taken in the years prior to a diagnosis, according to the document.
The drivers sit in the interstate 5 traffic during the afternoon trip in the direction of Central San Diego on October 4, 2024 in San Diego, California.
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You can create high levels of SO2 during “anything that has to do with mining activities”, as well as the use of fossil fuels for energy, such as coal burning or diesel operated equipment, Sacier said.
“There may be some local concentrations that are high in the area,” he said.
All regions covered in the study were within Canada’s guidelines for Clean airAccording to the newspaper.
More studies should be done to devise prevention strategies and a better regulatory intervention in the levels of exposure to air pollution in the name of public health, researchers said.
“At the end of the day, if we are really going to reach a safe level of non -pollution, combustion will stop being our main method to make energy and give way to a new technology,” said Saucier.
Dr. Noor Shaik of ABC News contributed to this report. Shaik is a resident of Neurology and member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
