10 page Research Paper- Air Pollution (Outline and sources attached)

Data Analysis of Air Pollution on Public Health

Jonathan L. Johnson

American Military University

Thesis Statment

People around the world don’t realize how bad the air pollution from gases, dust, and fumes affect the health of the public.

Introduction

With the innovation of technology and industrial evolution, followed by the destruction of the environment from various factors, the very air that sustains life at the surface of the earth, has been taken for granted for too long. Air is known to be a composition of gasses, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide and other gasses. Nitrogen contains 78.1%, and all the other gasses share oxygen, 20.9% of all gasses in the air, the remaining percentage. When dust particles, exhaust fumes emitted by cars, and factories, poisonous gasses like Carbon Monoxide and Sulfur Dioxide, get into the air resulting in pollution that affects the health of everyone. The presence of these air pollutants has been a significant threat to public health, and because the air is getting more polluted than cleaned, the public will face a greater danger health-wise as time goes on. Unless people take a stand of trying to purify the same air they continue polluting, public health will greatly deteriorate.

Gases

Moreover, there is more machinery being invented daily that releases more exhaust fumes and poisonous gasses into the air. The release of the exhaust fumes has resulted in increasing of toxic gasses. For instance, Carbon Monoxide (CO), inhibits the circulation of oxygen by the blood in the body upon inhalation to a significant volume. In the United Kingdom, hospitals report 200 cases of CO poisoning every year, of which 50 deaths occurs from the same (Dockery, 1993). As a result, the body experiences gradual malfunctioning of its organs, especially the critical ones like the brains and the heart. In case the gas is inhaled indoors, it can cause instant death. In the outdoors, however, it is still hazardous, but effects are prolonged. People with heart diseases can be faced with the challenge. The inhalation of CO inhibits Oxygen circulation as mentioned earlier. If a person’s cardiac muscles are not strong enough, then they are not able to pump enough oxygenated blood to all the individual’s body parts. This makes the person’s body be under stress, fatigued and in a lot of discomforts always (Künzli, 2000). This reduced supply of oxygen from the lungs to the heart can often lead to heart complications and angina-chest-pain. This gas is mostly emitted by motor vehicles, through their exhaust fumes, tobacco smoking, and machines like clothes dryers, boilers, power generators, and water heaters. Also, gas stoves, wood stoves, and ovens are primary sources of CO mostly in the indoors. Fireplaces, where charcoal or wood is burning, CO gets released into the air. These are very many sources of CO, which is a poisonous gas and fatal if emitted in the indoors and gets inhaled directly. This poses a significant threat to public health since the use of some machinery like cars cannot be ceased. Better ways of coping with the problem of emission of CO should be sought out and machines that produce less CO be invented.

Dust

Besides, it is not just gasses that are a threat to public health. There are dust particles that are carried in the air; they are minute enough not to be visible to the physical eye. Dust mostly comes from soil erosion and sand and rocks. When dust is inhaled, the tiny particles clogs the deep-most parts of the lungs, leading to breathing complications. For asthmatic people, this becomes a serious problem because inhalation of dust sometimes becomes a trigger for an asthma attack. When the particles pass through the breathing system, they cause irritation, which as a resort brings about coughing and sneezing. Dust particles carry bacteria and germs in them. When they get into the human body, the germs or bacteria causes illnesses like a fever (Dockery, 1994). Some other germs and bacteria can be severe enough to transport flue or chronic diseases. When dust particles get into the eyes, they cause irritation, triggering scratching of the eyes which can damage them easily. There are some cases in which breathing dust is inevitable. So much time as dust is in the air and someone must breathe the air, then one must blow the dust too. For instance, when working on a construction site, no matter how much protective wear a person puts on, s/he breathes cement dust and the person must work to fend for his family. With this, it is clearly seen that dust is also a major air pollutant.

Fumes/Odor

Last but not the least, it is observed that poisonous gasses, which are Carbon Monoxide, Lead Oxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Oxide, and the Ground-Level Ozone, are toxic gasses that are released mostly by machinery and industries. They are observed to have the same or similar health problems, mainly lung and heart problems (Kenline, 1972). But, there is another unthinkable problem that is assumed by many, though it’s a serious one, the fumes. In urban areas, sometimes things like trash collection is not well managed. It is dumped carelessly, and the fumes that comes from the trash is awful enough to make someone sick in as little as five minutes of breathing it. Also, sewage may not be well piped, and as a result, it gets leaked before reaching its destination. The fumes and odor that comes from it also is pretty awful. It causes irritation, discomfort and sometimes causes stomach issues. This causes stress and failure of proper work output due to this health issue.

Conclusion

Upon concluding, it is evident that gasses, dust particles, and fumes/odor from sewage and poisonous gases, are major air pollutants and all of them collectively have adverse effects on human health. They are a threat to public health and can cause loss of life.

References

Dockery, D. W., & Pope, C. A. (1994). Acute respiratory effects of particulate air pollution. Annual review of public health, 15(1), 107-132.

Dockery, D. W., Pope, C. A., Xu, X., Spengler, J. D., Ware, J. H., Fay, M. E., ... & Speizer, F. E. (1993). An association between air pollution and mortality in six US cities. New England journal of medicine, 329(24), 1753-1759.

Kenline, P. A., & Scarpino, P. V. (1972). Bacterial air polution from sewage treatment plants. The American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 33(5), 346-352.

Künzli, N., Kaiser, R., Medina, S., Studnicka, M., Chanel, O., Filliger, P., ... & Schneider, J. (2000). Public-health impact of outdoor and traffic-related air pollution: a European assessment. The Lancet, 356(9232), 795-801.