Health Effects of Iceland's Volcanic Ash Plume

The World Health Organization (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) has advised Europeans to stay indoors if ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökul volcano starts settling, as inhaled particles can enter the lungs and cause respiratory problems.

"We're very concerned about it,” said WHO spokesman Daniel Epstein, as small amounts of the volcanic ash have started to fall in Iceland, Scotland, and Norway. "These particles when inhaled can reach the peripheral regions of ... the lungs and can cause problems – especially for people with asthma or respiratory problems.”


The British Health Protection Agency (HPA; London, United Kingdom) has said the concentration of volcanic particles that might settle on the ground was likely to be low and should not cause serious harm. However, people with respiratory problems such as bronchitis and asthma might experience more symptoms like itchy eyes, a sore throat, and dry cough. The HPA has advised these people to carry their inhaler or medication with them, and said that any health effects were likely to be short-term.

However, the issue of potential health effects is controversial. Other experts are not convinced that the volcanic ash would have a major effect on health, claiming that the WHO's warnings were "hysterical.” According to some experts, volcanic ash is much less dangerous than cigarette smoke or pollution. During an actual volcanic eruption, the ash may be breathed deep into the lungs and cause irritation, even in healthy people. But once it falls from a greater distance--such as from the cloud currently hovering above Europe--its health effects are often minimal.

"Not all particles are created equal; in the great scheme of things, volcanic ash is not all that harmful,” said Ken Donaldson, Ph.D., D.Sc., a professor of respiratory toxicology at the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom), who has studied the health impact of volcanic ash. "Once the volcanic particles are in the stratosphere, they're getting massively diluted because there's a lot of air and other particles blowing around.”

"The cloud has already passed over northern Scotland and we haven't heard of any ill effects there,” said Stephen Spiro, M.D., a professor of respiratory medicine and deputy chair of the British Lung Foundation. "The further the particles travel, they more diluted and less dangerous they will be. If this was really coming down, you'd see a yellow [tinge] in the air from the Sulfur. But we've seen no sign of that.”

The Eyjafjallajökul volcano in Iceland, which underwent a major eruption on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, has sent an enormous cloud of microscopic basalt ash particles across northern Europe, grounding aircraft across the continent. It is drifting above 6,000 meters, so high that it is invisible from the ground. The ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass less than 2 millimeters in diameter.

Related Links:
World Health Organization
U.K. Health Protection Agency