Transcript Air Section 2 Long-Term Health Effects of Air Pollution

Air
Section 2
Air Pollution
• Can cause serious health problems
– especially for very young, very old, those with heart or
lung problems
– adds to the effects of existing diseases: emphysema,
heart disease, lung cancer
– estimate Americans pay billions/year to treat
respiratory diseases caused by air pollution
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Short-Term Effects of Air Pollution on Health
• Reversible if exposure to air pollution decreases.
• Include headache; nausea; irritation to the eyes, nose
and throat; coughing; tightness in the chest; upper
respiratory infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia.
• Can make asthma and emphysema worse
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Long-Term Health Effects of Air Pollution
• Include emphysema, lung cancer, and heart disease
• May worsen medical conditions suffered by older people
and may damage the lungs of children.
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Indoor Air Pollution
• Air inside a home or building is sometimes worse than
outside.
• Sick-building syndrome: set of symptoms that may
affect workers in modern, airtight office buildings.
– most common in hot places where buildings are
tightly sealed to keep out the heat
• Plastics and other industrial chemicals are major sources
of pollution.
– found in carpets, building materials, paints, and
furniture, particularly when new
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• Ventilation, or mixing outdoor air with indoor air necessary
for good air quality
– renovation and painting- ventilation should be increased.
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Radon Gas
• Colorless, tasteless, odorless, and radioactive
• Occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust, can seep through
cracks and holes in foundations into homes, offices, and
schools
• Inhale contaminated dust, radioactivity destroys genetic
material in cells, lead to cancer
– second-leading cause of lung cancer in US
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Asbestos
• Six silicate minerals that form bundles of minute fibers that
are heat resistant, flexible, and durable
– primarily used as an insulator, fire retardant, building
material
– use of most asbestos products banned in the early 1970s
– can cut and scar the lungs: disease asbestosis
• difficulty breathing, may eventually die of heart failure
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Noise Pollution
• Noise: a sound of any kind
• Pollutant when too loud, or unecessay
• Health problems: loss of hearing, high blood pressure,
and stress, loss of sleep
– may lead decreased productivity at work and in the
classroom.
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• Decibel: unit (dB ) used to measure loudness
• The quietest sound that a human ear can hear is at 0 dB
•
Each increase in 10 times higher than previous level
– 120 dB is at the threshold of pain.
– permanent deafness can result from continuous
exposure to sounds over 120 dB.
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Light Pollution
• Not a direct hazard to human health
– inefficient lighting in urban areas is diminishing our view
of the night sky
– urban sky often much brighter than the natural sky
• Environmental concern: energy wasted when a light is
directed upward and lost to space
– Causes: billboards, poor-quality street lights, lighting of
building exteriors
– Solutions: shielding light so it is directed downward, time
controls, energy-efficient low-pressure sodium sources