August is the calm before the September flurry of school buses, ringing bells and recesses, and at four Toronto elementary schools Environment Canada and the province of Ontario are using the calm time to study urban smog. Mobile monitoring stations are in place to measure key smog pollutants, especially fine particles. The schools were chosen because they are ideally situated in the downtown core, and represent locations where children spend a great deal of time. The goal of the study is to further narrow down the pollutants that are most harmful, and to better understand the effects of smog on humans.

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