Pollution doll checks air quality - 12th February 2021

Air quality researchers in Antwerp, Belgium have an unlikely new assistant: 'baby' Claire, a lifelike doll whose name is taken from her optimistic objective, "Clean Air for Everyone".

With Claire safely secured in her pushchair, voluntary babysitters roam the city's streets as three electronic sensors wedged in beside the doll record the particulate matter spewed out from factories and car exhausts. Poor air quality has been dubbed a silent killer and deemed responsible for 7 million premature deaths worldwide each year and Belgium's notoriously clogged roads make it one of Europe's worst offenders, despite being home to just 11 million people.

Analysing the data Claire collects is Roeland Samson, a bioengineering lecturer at the University of Antwerp.

Samson: "What do we analyse? We analyse particulate matter in 2 size fractions: 10 (micrometres) and 2 and a half, and ultra fine particles which are even more dangerous, because they really can penetrate the lungs deeply and even can entrance our blood system."

Veerle Bonaers, one of the volunteer walkers, decided to participate in the project due to her anxiety over the impact of pollution on the next generation.

Bonaers: "Because I have a child myself and I worry that she has to grow up in a very polluted city, and that it might affect her health in the long term."

Climate campaigner Joeri Thijs of Greenpeace Belgium urges the public to reconsider how they get around.

Thijs: "But now actually with the new cars, diesel and petrol cars they are as bad. We need to go away from fossil fuel cars, we need to go to electric cars that can be fueled with renewable energy, but most of all we need to go to a different kind of mobility with much less cars, and better alternatives."