The Biochar Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Disease’

Air pollution is a type of pollution defined by a deterioration of the purity of the air, by one or several substances or particles present during sufficient times to create a toxic effect.  Now days, there are tens of thousands of different suspected molecules that are said to be noxious. Those particles act in synergy between them and with of other parameters, solar UV, ozone, air humidity, acids, etc. 

Mainly, air pollution results from gases and rejected particles in the air by the vehicles, the heating installations, the central thermal and the industrial installations: radioactive particles, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), Sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitric oxide (N0), nitrogen dioxide (N02), dusts, etc.

Is your house safe from air pollution?

No. “Toxic chemicals found in the air of most American homes are three times more likely to cause cardio-vascular disease, asthma and some type of cancer than outdoor air pollutants”, reported the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That same agency, EPA, has found that the air in some office buildings is 100 times more polluted than the air outside. Is your home or office included? The answer is yes if your home or office has poor ventilation, copying machines, electrical and telephone cables, mold and microbe-harboring air conditioning systems and ducts, cleaning fluids, cigarette smoke, carpet, latex caulk and paint, vinyl molding, and linoleum tile.

Effects of the air pollution on reproductive Health

Medical experts suspect that breathing pesticides persistently can affect health, and notably the reproductive health.  It has been a long time since medical researchers have known the harmful effects of many heavy metals or chemical products on the reproduction.  Now, after several researches, they realize the air pollution problem is more complicated than they thought. They discover that the current pollutants which we breath daily can have effects on human reproductive system, according to a recent international study published by the “Extrapol Revue”. 

So, what is the solution?

Now days, It is difficult to resolve the problem of air pollution globally.  However, you can purify the air you breathe in your house and office.  Many innovative companies such as Blueair purifiers, award-winning Air Purifier Company, designs and manufacture the best air purification systems available today.  Visit our Home air purifier website to see how you can relieve the discomfort of allergy and asthma symptoms and enhance your respiratory health and well-being.

A study of more than 11.5 million Medicare patients aged over 65 has concluded that even short-term exposure to fine particle air pollution significantly increases the risk of contracting cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The study was conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, itself a department within the National Institute of Health.

This is the largest study ever conducted of the effect of fine particle air pollution and heart and lung disease, not only in the country but in the world. Fine particle air pollution is typically caused through power plant emissions or fuel exhaust emissions. These microscopic particles the size of dust or soot particles and around 30 times less than the thickness of a human hair, are able to lodge and accumulate deep within the respiratory system. Over time, lung function decreases while pre-existing conditions such as asthma are inflamed and aggravated.

It is not surprising that counties on the heavily industrialized Eastern seaboard have the highest rates of fine particle air pollution and so, the highest rates of lung and heart disease. Any location where there is heavy use of fossil fuels reports a substantial increase in the number of patients suffering from heart and lung conditions.

The extensive study delivered the proof that even small increases in the levels of fine particle air pollutants gave rise to a significantly higher level of hospital admissions for heart failure, heart and vascular conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and infections of the respiratory system. Patients over the age of 75 years of age are particularly vulnerable and experience significantly higher rates of admissions for these conditions than the rest of the population.

Funding for this huge research study was provided by the U.S. Environmental protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The research was conducted by a team at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the results were finally published in March, 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The EPA’s Aerometric Information Retrieval Service provides a nationwide network of data collection locations. This retrieval network was used to collect the data on fine air particle concentrations from over 200 counties scattered across the country and provided data over a three-year period.

The EPA is involved because it has a primary function of controlling environmental pollution through the setting of standards and guidelines. The study demonstrates that there is a strong need for the establishment of air quality guidelines, particularly to safeguard the health of the elderly. The study particularly demonstrates that even minor fine air pollution levels, well below those of the existing national standards, are causing significant health implications for patients.

The question as to whether fine air pollution causes increased incidence of heart and lung diseases is now clearly established, however why are such minor levels of fine air pollution causing such high levels of disease? This in turn will lead to what can be done to counter the harmful effects of fine particle air pollution.

There is sound facts starting hundreds of the studies conducted worldwide which polluted air has unfavorable effects on health. The air pollution affects ranges from mild respiratory frustration to minor lung cancer and various cardiovascular diseases. In various developing nation, where the air quality is often poor, the link among air pollution along with health is often understandable. The recent study by California Department of the Health Services indicates that the industrial air pollutants might raise the risk of the autism by 50 percent in most of young children and also unborn babies. The account was available online in the various journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Whereas In China the air excellence in numerous cities is consequently bad that just breathing is the equal as smoking a set of cigarettes every day plus respiratory disease as of the air pollution are the leading source of death. When ask to sketch the sky, a lot of Chinese children prefer a yellow or gray crayon.
However, in most of the places all over the world, where the sky is generally blue, along with air excellence improved considerably in current years, the association among the air pollution and the health is to amount clear. There is extensive debate on whether the air quality is at present threatening the physical condition of people all over the world. Some researchers are pronouncing evidence of the serious health problems as of increasingly small contamination particles. Well in most of the reviews the outcome of a number of air pollution evidence, result that the “community death rates mount and fall almost in lock-step by way of local changes of the tiny dust particles—also when the attentiveness of those element are presently one-quarter of the centralized limit for the outdoor air.” though, other researchers quarrel that there is no systematic evidence for such assert, and challenge that the air pollution is not a dilemma in the United States. The Gregg Easterbrook, of the Brookings organization, an organization dedicated to research and psychoanalysis of the public policy, condition that the quality of the world air is so high-quality that it must be “a national basis for celebration.”
The Disagreements on whether the air pollution is at present threatening the people all over the world. Health fuel the discussion over how the air quality should be synchronized. The Emissions reductions may be extremely luxurious for the industry and, eventually, the consumer. The Regulatory agencies all face the complicated task of weighing the possible health remuneration of the regulation next to the costs to the industry and result the most pleasing balance among the two.