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It’s effect on people with
asthma, heart disease, and emphysema is devastating. It is also a major
contribute to acid rain. How serious of a thereat is it to our health? There are
numerous cases displaying the grave danger of particulate air pollution. One
popular example occurred in London, England in the year 1952. In this case
excessive deaths were caused as a result of respiratory and cardiovascular
problems in that year. The research at that time revealed an association between
particulate and sulphur dioxide concentrations in the air and risk of
respiratory disease and death. The excessive problems are thought to have been
caused by winter smogs. Winter smogs were frequent problem during the 1940s
through the 1950s when coal was the main fuel for both domestic and commercial
use. Winter smogs are caused by temperature inversions which trap particulates
close to the ground.
The air and smoke trapped contained high concentrations of
soot, sulphur dioxide, and other pollutants. This winter smog took the lives of
over 3,500 people. A similar incident in the United States came about as a
result of the same type of temperature changes and smog. In 1948 six thousand
people became drastically ill and twenty died as a direct result of winter smog
in Pennsylvania. More recently an even greater tragedy occurred. One of the
great human and environmental disasters of the 1980s occurred on December 3,
1984, in Bhopal, India. About 50 tons of methyl isocyanate escaped into the air
from a pesticide company owned by the American corporation Union Carbide.
Estimates of the death toll in surrounding neighborhoods were as high as 2,500.
About 100,000 others were injured by the gas leak.
Who is at the greatest risk?
Since the in industrial revolution city dwellers have always been exposed to
higher levels of particulate air pollution. As I have mentioned, the fuels use
in the urban factories release large amounts of pollutants such as sulfur
dioxide and soot. Another main factor is the heavy use if motor vehicles by the
city population. In the city, where many people and objects occupy a small area
the problem is amplified. Depending on the weather conditions the threat can
become even greater. Another major factor is the individual. While sex does not
matter age and health history do. It has been proven that death or illness from
air pollution is more likely in young people, old people, and people that smoke.
Children are often more vulnerable to those pollutants for two main reasons.
The
first being that because of their small size their heartbeats and metabolic
rates are faster. Therefore all reactions within their bodies including the
harmful ones of pollutants (chiefly the replacement of oxygen with carbon
monoxide in the blood stream) take place at an accelerated pace. The second is
the relatively weak immune systems of young children. Particulates that act as
irritants take a greater toll on their still developing bodies. The same threats
that air pollution pose to young people effect older members of society.
Although their metabolic rates not high, their immune systems maybe equally as
weak. An investigation conducted by the Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation
on the joint effects of air pollution and smoking showed that smokers in
Beijing, China suffered from greater problems in their pulmonary artery
functions. They also had a vital lung capacity decrease of over 10%. Conclusion
It is apparent that our careless use of fossil fuels and chemicals is destroying
this planet. And it is now more than ever apparent that at the same time we are
destroying our bodies, proving that our pollution is not just a problem that we
can pass on to our children.
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