TORONTO, May 9, 2002 -- Dr. Trevor Hancock, an outspoken champion for healthy cities and 'green' health care, will deliver the 2002 Morris Katz Memorial Lecture in Environmental Research at York University, on Monday, May 13, at 2:30 p.m.
During his lecture, Energy Use, Transportation, Air Pollution and Health: From Science to Policy to Environmental Injustice and Urban Planning, Hancock will discuss how air pollution puts the poor and children from poor families at greater risk for respiratory disease and air-quality related ailments such as asthma than other socio-economic groups.
"This is an environmental justice issue," says Hancock, a former York environmental studies professor and former associate medical officer for Toronto. "Many of the health effects associated with air quality are unequally distributed in the population. It is disturbing that the poor, especially children and the homeless, have a higher probability of being adversely affected by air pollution."
Hancock explains that those living in poverty are more likely to live in areas where air quality is worse. He adds that they are less likely able to afford air conditioners or escape the city during the summer months when air quality advisories are issued and health authorities recommend that people remain indoors.
He will also review some of the broader health impacts of energy use across the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario with particular attention to air pollution caused by vehicle emissions and diesel exhaust. He will discuss the implications of these issues for public policy and urban planning.
Hancock is a public health physician and has worked as a consultant for local, provincial and national governments, health care organizations and the World Health Organization. His main areas of interest include: healthy cities / communities, public policy, environmental health, health policy and planning, and health futurism. He is a founder and chair of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and a founder of the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care.
Hancock’s lecture, which is sponsored by York’s Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, will take place in York University's new Computer Science Building, Lecture Hall "A", 4700 Keele Street.
The Morris Katz Memorial Lecture series commemorates the life and work of York University chemistry professor Morris Katz who died in 1987.
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For further information, please contact:
| Dr. Trevor Hancock | Prof. Geoff Harris, Director | Ken Turriff |
| CAPE | Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry | Media Relations |
| 905-893-2808 / | York University | York University |
| 519-883-2278 (Wed. to Fri.) | 416-736-5992 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22086 |
| thancock@on.aibn.com | gharris@yorku.ca | kturriff@yorku.ca |
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