Research finds higher health impacts from truck pollution in Melbourne’s inner west

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Children living in Melbourne’s inner west are being hospitalised for asthma attacks at a far higher rate than the rest of Victoria, alarming new research has found. The findings have renewed concerns about the health impacts of truck pollution in the western suburbs, with some residents labelling it a crisis.

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00:02Lunchboxes packed, shoes on, backpacks at the front door and most importantly a few

00:08puffs from an asthma inhaler. This is a regular morning in mother-of-five Sylvia's house.

00:15It's always like in the back of my mind like if I've left the house and I'm

00:19thinking did I bring my Ventolin with me. Sylvia and two of her sons Nicholas and

00:24Michael have asthma. Both boys were diagnosed after the family moved to

00:29Yarraville three years ago a suburb near the port of Melbourne with heavy truck

00:33traffic and the recently opened Westgate tunnel ventilation stacks. There's like

00:37a thick brown film of dust constantly outside like we'll hose down the decks

00:44and the concrete and then the next day it's just full of dust again. When I

00:48breathe it in it makes me like wheeze and I have to have my asthma pump. Now a new

00:53report has found children living in the inner west are at a higher risk of being

00:57hospitalized with asthma attacks. The inner west of Melbourne is a hot spot for air pollution.

01:03Using 12 years of data from public hospitals the study found asthma-related

01:07emergency visits for children are 26 to 53 percent higher than the Victorian average

01:13in the local government areas of Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong and Brimbank. The

01:18environmental exposure particular air pollution is an important contributor. The

01:23findings of this study aren't really a surprise for anyone who lives in Melbourne's inner west.

01:28For years locals have campaigns for fewer trucks on residential roads and even a truck ban here on

01:34Williamstown Road. That's going to get a doubling of trucks in the next five years and on that road

01:39there's Yarraville West Primary School, there's the local skate park, there's a tennis club. Like it's not just alarming, it's

01:45a crisis.

01:46The construction of the Westgate tunnel has also meant that we've got thousands and thousands of trucks

01:52off those local roads. Residents hoping to just breathe a little easier.

01:57Juliana Westonas

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