AIR POLLUTION

Vincent T. Sales

BSIS 2-B

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AIR POLLUTION

occurs when harmful or excessive quantities of substances including gases, particles,

and biological molecules are introduced into Earth's atmosphere. It may cause diseases, allergies

and even death to humans; it may also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and

food crops, and may damage the natural or built environment. Both human activity and natural

processes can generate air pollution.

Indoor air pollution and poor urban air quality are listed as two of the world's

worst toxic pollution problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places

report.[1] Outdoor air pollution alone causes 2.1[2][3] to 4.21 million premature deaths

annually.[4][5] According to the 2014 World Health Organization report, air pollution in 2012

caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide

Air pollution is a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air. Car emissions, chemicals from

factories, dust, pollen and mold spores may be suspended as particles. Ozone, a gas, is a major

part of air pollution in cities. When ozone forms air pollution, it's also called smog.

Some air pollutants are poisonous. Inhaling them can increase the chance you'll have health

problems. People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from air

pollution. Air pollution isn't just outside - the air inside buildings can also be polluted and affect

your health.

INTRODUCTION

Air pollution can be defined as an alteration of air quality that can be characterized by measurements

of chemical, biological or physical pollutants in the air. Therefore, air pollution means the

undesirable presence of impurities or the abnormal rise in the proportion of some constituents of the

atmosphere. It can be classified in 2 sections: visible and invisibleair pollution.

Local

this concerns the quality of ambient air within a radius of a few kilometers

Regional

pollution like acid rain, photochemical reactions and degradation of water quality at distances of a

few kilometers to a thousand kilometers

Global
depletion of the ozone layer and global warming caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, mainly

carbon dioxide

COMMON AIR POLLUTANTS

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Fuel combustion from vehicles and engines.
Reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the body’s organs and tissues; aggravates heart disease,
resulting in chest pain and other symptoms.

Ground-level Ozone (O3)

Secondary pollutant formed by chemical reaction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NOx in
the presence of sunlight.
Decreases lung function and causes respiratory symptoms, such as coughing and shortness of breath,
and also makes asthma and other lung diseases get worse. More on Ground Level Ozone Here

Lead (Pb)
Smelters (metal refineries) and other metal industries; combustion of leaded gasoline in piston
engine aircraft; waste incinerators (waste burners), and battery manufacturing.
Damages the developing nervous system, resulting in IQ loss and impacts on learning, memory, and
behavior in children. Cardiovascular and renal effects in adults and early effects related to anaemia.

Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

Fuel combustion (electric utilities, big industrial boilers, vehicles) and wood burning.
Worsens lung diseases leading to respiratory symptoms, increased susceptibility to respiratory
infection.

Particulate Matter (PM)

This is formed through chemical reactions, fuel combustion (e.g., burning coal, wood, diesel),
industrial processes, farming (plowing, field burning), and unpaved roads or during road constructions.
Short-term exposures can worsen heart or lung diseases and cause respiratory problems. Long-term
exposures can cause heart or lung disease and sometimes premature deaths.

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

SO2 comes from fuel combustion (especially high-sulfur coal); electric utilities and industrial
processes as well as natural occurrences like volcanoes.
 Aggravates asthma and makes breathing difficult. It also contributes to particle formation with
associated health effects.

CAUSES OF AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution is caused by solid and liquid particles and certain gases that are suspended in the

air. These particles and gases can come from car and truck exhaust, factories, dust, pollen, mold

spores, volcanoes and wildfires. The solid and liquid particles suspended in our air are

called aerosols.

WHAT IS AEROSOLS?

Any particle that gets picked up into the air or is formed from chemical reactions in the air can

be an aerosol. Many aerosols enter the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels—such as coal and

petroleum—and wood. These particles can come from many sources, including car exhaust,

factories and even wildfires. Some of the particles and gases come directly from these sources,

but others form through chemical reactions in the air.

Aerosols can come from other places, too, such as ash from an erupting volcano. Dust, pollen

from plants and mold spores are also examples of aerosols.

What else causes air pollution?

Certain gases in the atmosphere can cause air pollution. For example, in cities, a gas

called ozone is a major cause of air pollution. Ozone is also a greenhouse gas that can be both

good and bad for our environment. It all depends where it is in Earth’s atmosphere.
Ozone high up in our atmosphere is a good thing. It helps block harmful energy from the Sun,

called radiation. But, when ozone is closer to the ground, it can be really bad for our health.

Ground level ozone is created when sunlight reacts with certain chemicals that come from

sources of burning fossil fuels, such as factories or car exhaust.

When particles in the air combine with ozone, they create smog. Smog is a type of air pollution

that looks like smoky fog and makes it difficult to see.

How does air pollution affect Earth’s climate?

Aerosols can impact how the Sun’s light hits Earth. For example, some aerosols reflect sunlight

while others absorb sunlight. It depends on the color of the particle.

Dark surfaces—whether it’s a black t-shirt or a dark particle in the atmosphere—absorb the Sun's

heat. Lighter-colored surfaces reflect heat from the Sun.

A white t-shirt reflects the Sun on a hot day, making you feel cooler. In the same way, light-

colored particles that reflect the Sun’s light and heat away from Earth can make the global

temperature cooler. Dark-colored particles that absorb the Sun’s light can make the global

temperature warmer.
How does air pollution affect our health?

Breathing in polluted air can be very bad for our health. Long-term exposure to air pollution has

been associated with diseases of the heart and lungs, cancers and other health problems. That’s

why it’s important for us to monitor air pollution.

How is NASA monitoring air pollution?

NASA uses satellites orbiting Earth to keep an eye on air pollution. In fact, air quality forecasters

use information about aerosols from NASA’s Aqua, Terra and Suomi-NPP satellites.

NASA also is developing a new instrument called the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols,

or MAIA, to fly aboard a future spacecraft mission. MAIA will help scientists understand the

size, makeup and quantity of aerosols in our air. Eventually, scientists will be able to compare

this information with health records. This can help us better understand the relationship between

aerosol pollution and human health.

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION

Environmental Impacts

• Global warming: According to estimates, at the current rate of increase, the average global

temperature up by 3°C to 8°C in the next 100 years. This will affect the climate of different regions,

distribution of plants and animals, disturbance in agriculture and food production, melting of snow

caps and resultant increase in sea levels. This will submerge parts of coastal cities of Calcutta,

New York, London and other major cities.

• Formation of photochemical smog: When pollutants like hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides

combine in the presence of sunlight, smog is formed. This is a mixture of gases and since it is

formed by photochemical reactions, it is called the photochemical smog. The word ‘smog’ is

derived from the two words-smoke and fog. It forms a yellowish brown haze especially during

winter and hampers visibility. It also causes many respiratory disorders and allergies as it contains

polluting gases.

• Formation of acid rain: Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water in the atmosphere

producing sulphuric acid and nitric acid. These acids come down along with the rain. This

phenomenon is called acid rain. The pH of acid rain varies from 3-6. The composition of acid rain

is sulphuric acid, nitric acid and weak carbonic acid. Its adverse affects on the environment

include: causes respiratory and skin disorders, affects productivity of plants by damaging the

leaves, enters the soil and affects the soil, pH and causes leaching, enters the ground and river

waters which causes harm to the aquatic life, causes damage to marble and thus damages buildings

and monuments (like Taj Mahal).

• Aerosol formation: Aerosol is formed by the dispersion of solid or liquid matter in the

atmosphere. If the aerosols form a thick layer in the troposphere, they affect the weather conditions

by blocking the solar radiation. Aerosols are also deposited on the leaves and affect the

photosynthesis. Aerosols disperse the organic metallic pollutants far and wide.

• Depletion of Ozone: The stratosphere of the atmosphere has ozone (O3). Ozone is known to

absorb the Ultraviolet (UV) rays present in the sun’s radiation and protects us from the harmful

effects of the UV rays. However, hydrocarbons such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) destroy

the ozone molecules which deplete the ozone layer. Ozone holes have been detected in the

atmosphere which permits the UV rays to reach the earth’s surface. The harmful effects of the UV
rays are visible in the countries such as Australia and New Zealand where the rate of skin cancer

is higher than the other regions of the world.

HUMAN HEALTH

Studying The Dangers Of Air Pollution

Scientists believe there’s strong evidence to suggest high levels of air pollution negatively affect

health. And a growing number of correlative studies have shown that when people move to

cleaner regions, or when air pollution levels decrease, health outcomes improve, says Carrie

Breton, an environmental health researcher at the University of Southern California’s Keck

School of Medicine.

USC’s Children’s Health Study has studied the long-term effects of air pollution on children over

the past 25 years and found that kids who move to areas with lower levels of pollution

have improved lung function growth and performance. Similarly, scientists have found that as

the air pollution levels in Southern California have dropped, so too have rates of bronchitic

symptoms such as coughing, congestion and phlegm. Long-term lung function in children has

also improved over the last 20 years as air pollution rates in the Los Angeles basin have gone

down.

“When you start to see many different studies in different places in the world ... showing similar

results, the body of evidence makes it more and more believable,” Breton said.

While randomized controlled trials on outdoor air pollution are rare, they do exist. A recent

experiment by researchers in London asked people to take a two-hour walk along traffic-heavy

Oxford Street or in Hyde Park. They found the health benefits were canceled out for all
participants, on account of reduced lung function and increased airway resistance, which

continued for a period after the trial ended.

The immediate effects of air pollution are hard to ignore. Watery eyes, coughing and difficulty

breathing are acute and common reactions.

An estimated 92 percent of the world’s population live in areas with dangerous level of air

pullotion and, even at seemingly imperceptible levels, air pollution can increase one’s risk of

cardiovascular and premature death.

Air pollution is almost as deadly as tobacco. In 2016, it was linked to the deaths of 6.1 million

people, according the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

And it might harm you even before you take your first breath.

Exposure to high levels of air pollution during pregnancy has been linked to miscarriages as well

as premature birth, autism spectrum disorder and asthma in children.

Air pollution may damage children’s brain development, and pneumonia, which kills almost 1

million children under the age of 5 every year, is associated with air pollution. Children who

breathe in higher levels of pollutants also face a greater risk of short-term respiratory

infections and lung damage.

Other conditions associated with high levels of air pollution include emphysema and chronic

bronchitis, as well as lung cancer.

Pollutants can affect cardiovascular health by hardening the arteries and increase the risk of heart

attack and strokes, and there is even emerging evidence that air pollution may be linked to
mental health conditions and degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease,

Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.

How Air Pollution Damages The Body

While air pollution’s link to respiratory disease may seem obvious, its relationship to heart, brain

and fetal health is less so. There are at least two possible mechanisms by which air pollution can

harm parts of the body besides the nasal cavity and lungs, said Anthony Gerber, a pulmonologist

at National Jewish Health in Denver.

The first has to do with inflammation, which is the body’s way of repairing itself after an injury

or illness.

When the toxic soup of chemical particles and liquid droplets emitted by cars, power plants, fires

and factories known as particulate matter is inhaled, the microscopic toxic dust can irritate nasal

passages and result in an allergic-type response to the pollution, with symptoms like coughing

and a runny nose.

Scientists believe that as the particles make their way deeper into the airways and into the lungs,

the body may mistake it for an infection, triggering an inflammatory response.

IMPACTS ON LAND

Land or soil pollution

Land pollution comes from improper waste disposal, from sources like oil spills, landfills,

pesticides, or illegal dumping

These chemicals seep into the soil and strip the land from any nutritional content, and fill

the soil with chemicals or metals that damage plant cells and keep plants from obtaining

nutrients and growing.

Furthermore, plants can be poisoned by the toxic substances stored in contaminated

soils. It also can change the plant metabolism and reduce crop yields .

CONCLUSION

The health of the public, especially those who are the most vulnerable, such as children, the
elderly and the sick, is at risk from air pollution, but it is difficult to say how large the risk is. It
is possible that the problem has been over-stressed in relation to other challenges in the field of
public health.
As we have seen, there are considerable uncertainties in estimating both exposures and effects
and their relationships. It may be, for example, that the effects of long-term exposure to lower
concentrations of air pollutants could be more damaging to public health than short-term
exposure to higher concentrations. For this reason alone, local authorities could take action to
assess and improve local air quality. It is not sufficient to wait for an episode of severe air
pollution and then try to deal with its effects.
Another reason for action on air pollution is that we do not know the contribution which
exposure to air pollutants may make to deaths from, for example, heart disease. In many
 countries heart disease is a leading cause of death and even a small contribution from air
pollution could mean a significant and important effect on public heath.
On an individual level, the risk to health from air pollution is very much smaller than that posed
by active cigarette smoking or accidents. It is also true that healthy individuals are rather unlikely
to be affected by exposure to the concentrations of outdoor air pollutants in many European
countries on most days of the year. However, the old and the young, and especially those
suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, are the groups who are most vulnerable to the effects
of air pollution. It is only right that cost effective action should be taken to provide them with
clean air, which The Times of 1881 described as "the first necessity of our existence.

Actions You Can Take to Reduce

Air Pollution
Follow these Tips Every Day to Reduce
Pollution:
 Conserve energy - at home, at work, everywhere.
 Look for the ENERGY STAR label when buying home or office equipment.
 Carpool, use public transportation, bike, or walk whenever possible.
 Follow gasoline refueling instructions for efficient vapor recovery, being careful not
to spill fuel and always tightening your gas cap securely.
 Consider purchasing portable gasoline containers labeled “spill-proof,” where
available.
 Keep car, boat, and other engines properly tuned.
 Be sure your tires are properly inflated.
 Use environmentally safe paints and cleaning products whenever possible.
 Mulch or compost leaves and yard waste.
 Consider using gas logs instead of wood.

On Days when High Ozone Levels are

Expected, Take these Extra Steps to
Reduce Pollution:
 Choose a cleaner commute - share a ride to work or use public transportation.
 Combine errands and reduce trips. Walk to errands when possible.
 Avoid excessive idling of your automobile.
 Refuel your car in the evening when its cooler.
 Conserve electricity and set air conditioners no lower than 78 degrees.
 Defer lawn and gardening chores that use gasoline-powered equipment, or wait
until evening.

On Days when High Particle Levels are

Expected, Take these Extra Steps to
Reduce Pollution:
 Reduce the number of trips you take in your car.
 Reduce or eliminate fireplace and wood stove use.
 Avoid burning leaves, trash, and other materials.
 Avoid using gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.