Clean Air Guide – Health Effects
Clean Air Guide – Health Effects
Short-term exposure and high pollution levels can cause watery eyes, coughing
and wheezing, worsen heart and lung illnesses including asthma and other
respiratory diseases such as emphysema, contribute to stress on the cardiovascular
system, lessen the lung’s ability to exhale air, and damage lungs even after
minor irritation disappears.
Long-term
contact with polluted air can have permanent health effects, like rapidly aging
the lungs, decreasing lung capacity and function, causing diseases like asthma,
bronchitis, emphysema, and cancer and shortening life span.
People who
are most affected by air pollution include:
Children younger than 14
Those with heart or lung disease
Those with respiratory diseases
such as asthma or emphysema
Pregnant women
Outdoor workers
Athletes who exercise vigorously
The Bay Area
is one of the greatest places to live because of its combination of vibrant
cities and the natural environment. But because it is densely populated, we
also have our share of air pollution. Smog, haze, smoke, dust, odors and toxic
pollutants are just about everywhere. Cars, power plants, factories, and dry
cleaners all release pollutants into the air. We need to be educated about the
pollutants that cause the most harm to our health.
POLLUTANTS,
SOURCES & HEALTH EFFECTS
The
Environmental Protection Agency has identified six main pollutants, or criteria
pollutants, that most gravely affect health and well-being. Here is a chart of
the health effects for the six common criterian pollutants and their sources:
| Sources |
|
Pollutant |
|
Health Effects |
| Motor Vehicles, Power Plants, and fuel burning |
|
Nitrogen dioxide
(NO2) |
|
Increased
respiratory illness. Lung
irritationand damage. Premature death |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Burning Fuel, Motor Vehicles, Home Heaters and stoves, Power
Plants burning coal and oil, oil refineries, metal smelters |
|
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) |
|
Breathing
difficulties. Respiratory illness,
increase in existing heart diseases. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Natural gas, kerosense, oil, coal, gasoline burning, cleaning
solvents |
|
Carbon monoxide (CO) |
|
Nausea,
headaches, reduced mental alertness.
Reduces oxygem supply to blood and cells. Harmful to people who have damaged lunds or
breathing passages. Harmful to
peoplewithheart or circulation problems. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Carbon-based particles, dust, acid aersols, diesel motor
vehicles, fireplaces, woodstoves, unpaved roads, burning and plowing of farm
lands |
|
Particulate matter
(PM) |
|
Lung
damage, increased respiratory disease, nose and throat irritation,
bronchitis. Triggers asthma and
emphysema, harmful to people with heart disease, early death. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Leaded gasoline (being phased out), lead-based paint, metal
refineries, battery manufacturing |
|
Lead (Pb) |
|
Brain
and nervous sytem problems, especially for children, lung damage, digestive
problems. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Chemical reaction of pollutants such as hydrocarbons, and
nitrogen oxides released in the sunlight from fuel burning, motor vehicles,
idustries |
|
Ozone (O3) |
|
Breathing
difficulties, lung damage and inflammation.
Asthma, eye irritations, stuffy nose, reduced resistance to colds and
other respiratory infections |
 |
