The Ecology Blog

Pollution does not only affect us indirectly by adding up to the causes of global warming. Several medical researches in the past are pointing out to earth pollutants as the cause of a variety of health ailments. Both long term and short term exposures to pollution can be linked to lots of health-related problems.

Exposure to particles, for example, reduces lung function that leads to the development of chronic bronchitis. Short term implication of such, which equates to inhalation of pollen, smog, and dust for a short period in a day can aggravate lung diseases, cause asthma attacks and acute bronchitis, and thus, making us more susceptible to countless other respiratory infections. For healthy children and adults, exposure to particles may cause minor respiratory irritation at the very least.

Among other pollutants, air pollution coming from car and factory exhausts are the leading causes of a number of physical ailments. The hazardous effects of greenhouse gases on climate change are already apparent. What is usually forgotten is how such pollutants directly affect our health in myriad ways. As carbon dioxide traps radiation, keeping it from escaping the atmosphere, more heat enters the earth’s surface which causes lung problems, heart attacks, skin diseases and even cancer. Other gases such as ozone which is the main ingredient of smog, may also keep harmful ultraviolet light from exiting the earth. When ozone drifts in the lower part of the atmosphere, it can get into the lungs. Inhalation of ozone causes coughing, choking and a significant reduction of lung capacity.

Other pollutants include toxic chemicals that can be found even in most household products that we use. Direct and indirect contamination of these toxic substances cause a lot of physical problems that range from heart attack to cancer to birth defects.