Air quality

• This report is based on an analysis of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals and on expert reports by recognized national and international health organizations.
• Sources of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) are varied and increasingly prevalent.
• Public exposure to RF-EMFs comes from two types of sources:
  • Local (near-field) sources
    These are sources to which people are exposed at very short distances, namely less than a few centimetres from the body. Cell phones and cordless phones are two examples. Exposure from local sources can be close to the limits established under existing standards.
  • Environmental sources
    These are sources to which the body is exposed at greater distances. They include microwave ovens, wireless Internet routers, smart meters, and radio, TV, and cell phone antennas. Exposure from environmental sources is generally much lower than established exposure limits.…

Welcome to the Mould Compendium Web site. This site includes a series of descriptive fact sheets on some moulds present in the indoor environment.

Each of these fact sheets contains information relating to different biological, medical and toxicological aspects of the moulds. These fact sheets also describe the requirements for mould growth as well as the materials on which moulds can grow.

The site is accessible to everyone at no charge. It is intended for physicians, researchers, construction professionals, as well as the general public.

Welcome to the Mould Compendium Web site. This site includes a series of descriptive fact sheets on some moulds present in the indoor environment.

Each of these fact sheets contains information relating to different biological, medical and toxicological aspects of the moulds. These fact sheets also describe the requirements for mould growth as well as the materials on which moulds can grow.

The site is accessible to everyone at no charge. It is intended for physicians, researchers, construction professionals, as well as the general public.

Weather warning systems are among the main policy tools used by public authorities to protect the population from vagaries in the weather. More particularly, weather warning systems are implemented so that the government can monitor weather conditions and issue warnings when extreme weather events, such as heat waves, cold waves, heavy rainfall, etc., threaten the population. As is the case in all public interventions, it is important to analyze the performance of these systems, in order to evaluate their contribution to the population's safety and well-being.

In this report, a guide for evaluating warning systems for people vulnerable to heat and smog is presented. It is intended for managers and evaluators of these systems. It provides them with an analytical framework and methods for evaluating their relevance, implementation and impacts.

The guide proposes that relevance analysis must address the need for warning systems for people vulnerable to heat and smog. Mo…

Ozone (O₃) is a gas that is one of the normal components of the atmosphere. In the stratosphere, it forms the ozone layer and protects the earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. However, in the troposphere, ozone does not provide this same protective effect; it is instead identified as being a greenhouse gas and one of the main components of smog. This gas could therefore constitute certain risks to human health.

The aim of this document is to present approaches to modelling the environmental exposure of populations to ground-level ozone, specifically the approaches carried out on Québec's population by the Chair on Air Pollution, Climate Change and Health at the Université de Montréal. The ultimate purpose of the work carried out in Québec is to better estimate the health risks represented by this pollutant, and to provide scientific knowledge to professionals and decision makers in public health to further protect Québec's population.

Therefore, to brief…

The Government of Quebec's 2006–2012 Climate Change Action Plan, Quebec and Climate Change: A Challenge for the Future, brings together several Quebec government departments and agencies. The Green Fund, financed by a levy on fossil fuels, is mainly being used to fund 26 measures focused on two key objectives: greenhouse gas emission reductions and adaptation to climate change.

The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) is responsible for the health component of Action 21, which targets the implementation of mechanisms to prevent and mitigate the impacts of climate change on health. It has committed to address six areas for action targeting Quebec's adaptation to climate change, with each area including several research or intervention projects.

This study's objective is to provide an overview of existing epidemiological knowledge on particles from forest fires and interventions that have been evaluated to reduce the related health impacts. The purpose…

This summary is the second in a series of five short documents based on a literature review published in 2011. In what follows, we first present the mechanisms of action underlying traffic-calming strategies, as these mechanisms help to explain and predict the effects of calming interventions on air pollution produced by traffic. Next, we summarize the results of studies having evaluated two approaches to traffic calming. Lastly, we consider the implications of such results for public health actors.

In the autumn of 2007, the Association des victimes de l'amiante du Québec (AVAQ – a Québec association for asbestos victims) and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec (MDDEP – Québec ministry of sustainable development, the environment and parks) published studies on the asbestos concentrations measured in indoor and outdoor air in Thetford Mines. The findings motivated the public health authorities in Chaudière-Appalaches and Estrie to request the assistance of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ – Québec institute of public health) to conduct an assessment of the risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura in this population.

Asbestos is divided into two families: amphiboles (crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite) and serpentines (chrysotile). The three main diseases associated asbestos exposure are asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleu…

In the autumn of 2007, the Association des victimes de l'amiante du Québec (AVAQ – a Québec association for asbestos victims) and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec (MDDEP – Québec ministry of sustainable development, the environment and parks) published studies on the asbestos concentrations measured in indoor and outdoor air in Thetford Mines. The findings motivated the public health authorities in Chaudière-Appalaches and Estrie to request the assistance of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ – Québec institute of public health) to conduct an assessment of the risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura in this population.

Asbestos is divided into two families: amphiboles (crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite) and serpentines (chrysotile). The three main diseases associated asbestos exposure are asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleu…