Dear Editor,
So air pollution is linked to higher risk of a number of autoimmune diseases (article by Anna Bawden, The Guardian, 15th Mar 2022, link below). That doesn't surprise me and, indeed, our lungs are delicate organs so, even without direct links, I am sure that particulate matter clogging up our metabolism is an absolute boon to respiratory diseases such as Covid!
The article mentioned sources such as fossil fuel emissions but failed to expand on other origins such as abrasion from tyre-tread. Indeed, here in Germany, over 100'000 tonnes of toxic, microscopic tyre-dust are "emitted" every year. That dust then lies on roads being repeatedly wafted up (by the wind and by passing cars) for pedestrians to breathe in ... until it is finally washed down the drains to land up in the sea.
And that is not the end of the story as this morning, here in Cologne, parked cars were heavily speckled orange with dust which had blown in from the Sahara, a phenomenon which was widely reported.
So, if dust can be blown in from Africa, then where those many tonnes of tyre-dust going? This certainly forms a large portion of the microplastic currently being discovered in the remotest regions of the planet (e.g. The Arctic).
Regards
