Environmental Pollution And Its Effects on Health and Nature

Air Pollution Causes Non-Lung Cancer Deaths - Heal Naturally : Medical researchers have known for awhile that air pollution can cause conditions related to the lungs . These include asthma, allergies and even lung cancer. But few imagined that breathing air polluted air might cause other types of cancer. Yes, we are talking breast cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, intestinal cancers and others.

India’s Air Pollution Rivals China’s as World’s Deadliest - The New York Times : NEW DELHI — India’s rapidly worsening air pollution is causing about 1.1 million people to die prematurely each year and is now surpassing China’s as the deadliest in the world, a new study of global air pollution shows. The number of premature deaths in China caused by dangerous air particles, known as PM2.5, has stabilized globally in recent years but has risen sharply in India, according to the report, issued jointly on Tuesday by the Health Effects Institute, a Boston research institute focused on the health impacts of air pollution, and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, a population health research center in Seattle.

Children and Air Pollution | : Children breathe more air per pound of body weight, so their exposure to air pollution is much greater than adults.  Children’s organs, including their lungs, develop until they reach their late teens, usually around the age of 18.  Studies show that developing organs are sensitive to the toxic effects of air pollutants and environmental toxins, and that children absorb pollutants more readily than adults and retain them in the body for longer periods of time.*  According to the World Resources Institute, “Because they breathe at a higher rate than adults, children are exposed to greater levels of pollution relative to their smaller body weight and are generally more sensitive to their effects on a pound-for-pound basis.”

Plastic Pollution : "The world population is living, working, vacationing, increasingly conglomerating along the coasts, and standing on the front row of the greatest, most unprecedented, plastic waste tide ever faced. Washed out on our coasts in obvious and clearly visible form, the plastic pollution spectacle blatantly unveiling on our beaches is only the prelude of the greater story that unfolded further away in the world’s oceans, yet mostly originating from where we stand: the land. From the whale, sea lions, and birds to the microscopic organisms called zooplankton, plastic has been, and is, greatly affecting marine life on shore and off shore. In a 2006 report, Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans, Greenpeace stated that at least 267 different animal species are known to have suffered from entanglement and ingestion of plastic debris. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, plastic debris kills an estimated 100,000 marine mammals annu...

WHO | About second hand smoke : "The original Surgeon General's report, followed by this first "hazard" warning on cigarette packages, the subsequent "danger" warning on cigarette packages, the removal of cigarette advertising from television and the inclusion of the "danger" warning in cigarette advertising, were all "blows" of sorts for the tobacco industry. They were, however, blows that the cigarette industry could successfully weather because they were all directed against the smoker himself. The anti-smoking forces' latest tack, however - on the passive smoking issue - is quite a different matter.... Nearly six out of ten believe that smoking is hazardous to the nonsmokers' health, up sharply over the last four years. More than two-thirds of nonsmokers believe it; nearly half of all smokers believe it.

Indoor Air Pollution - Asbestos : "Asbestos is a mineral rock mined in much the same way as other minerals, such as iron, lead or copper. It exhibits substantial resistance to heat and deterioration and thus has historically been used for a variety of commercial and industrial purposes. Instead of forming dust particles when crushed, asbestos divides into millions of fine fibers in the manufacturing process. Asbestos fibers can have serious effects on your health if inhaled. There is no known safe exposure, so the greater the exposure, the greater the risk of developing an asbestos-related disease. The amount of time between exposure and the first signs of disease can be as much as 30 years. Asbestos can cause asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs that leads to breathing problems and heart failure. Workers who manufacture or use asbestos products and have high exposures to asbestos are often affected with asbestosis. Inhalation of asbestos can also cause lung cancer and mesotheli...