Work currently being carried out by Dr. Tom Church in association with the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) could help in global efforts to reduce emissions.

Dr. Church -- who has just been elected to join the BBSR board along with Fiona Luck of XL Capital -- said yesterday the data on continental pollutants that has been collected in Bermuda over the last 20 years is the oldest record of its kind.

And he said the new administration in the United States is set to consider emissions standards so records such as those established locally could prove invaluable in maintaining or extending emission controls.

Dr. Church said the Clean Air Act came into effect in the US roughly 12 years ago. The Act proposed gradually increasing a set of emissions controls in order to reduce pollutants in the air.

"It is easier to make a case that (the Act) is having an effect'' using data collected in Bermuda.

"With Bermuda situated downwind from the continental United States, testing here is an excellent way to make a case versus somewhere mid-continent.'' Dr. Church said the nature of air-borne pollutants arriving in Bermuda has changed somewhat over the last 20 years.

One of the biggest changes, he said, has been that fewer lead particles are being carried to the Island on air masses since the majority of the Western world began using unleaded gasoline.

Leaded gasoline was phased out in North America in the 1980s and the last EU country stopped selling it for general use last year.

Despite being geographically closer to the United States, Dr. Church said that the pollutants which reach the Island on air masses are roughly half from the United States and half from Europe.

In the winter months, he explained, the Island is more affected by North American air masses, while summer brings increased air activity from Europe on the trade winds.

Although lead and sulphuric acid are among the airborne pollutants that the Island is receiving less of, others such as nitric acid are on the increase, he added, possibly due to the mushrooming number of automobiles globally.

As Bermuda captured rain for its drinking water, the acid rain associated with global emissions must be of concern to the Island, he said, although he stressed the Island's drinking water is still safe.

One thing that is certain, however, is that Bermuda is intimately tied to the environmental health of the rest of the world due to the flow of air masses and oceanic currents over and around the Island.

Any sense that Bermuda is immune to the effects of global pollution due to its isolation is misplaced, he said.

And Bermuda's internally produced pollution will be the subject of an upcoming lecture at BBSR by Dr. Kent Simmons.

The Bermudian scientist will discuss the introduction of the Tynes Bay incinerator and studies monitoring its impact on the local environment at a lecture on May 31 entitled "Local Pollution and Our Environment: A Perspective for the New Century''.

BBSR board member Tom Church ENVIRONMENT ENV