Hundreds of American cities and towns have passed laws to ban or regulate the use of leaf blowers — particularly gas-powered leaf blowers.
Why? In part, because of the heavy contribution of gas-powered leaf blowers to air pollution. A single small gas-powered leaf blower creates as much air pollution as 50 full-sized sedans. The exhaust from leaf blowers is much higher in nitrous oxide than from automobiles and unlike the auto exhaust, consists in large part of a fine spray of oils and hydrocarbons.
These are inhaled into human and animal lungs. This can cause emphysema, heart attacks, and cancer. (One Connecticut expert has argued that Connecticut’s status as the state with the highest incidence of lung cancer is due to the extensive use of gas-powered leaf blowers there.)
Of course, there is the noise pollution problem. A typical gas-powered leaf blower will produce a noise level of 75 decibels at 50 feet and 100 decibels at close range. Often, two more blowers are being used simultaneously at a nearby house. These levels can cause serious hearing losses, and prolonged exposure can increase the incidents of heart attacks.
Isn’t it time for Northampton and other western Massachusetts communities to take action to control the annoyance and damage caused by gas leaf blowers? That of course is in addition to the already poor quality of the air in the Valley.
CATHARINE R. MORRISH
Northampton
BERNARD MILLER
Amherst
Miller is professor emeritus in organic chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.