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Environmental Abuse
Environmental abuse is contamination of the environment as a result of human activities. In the 20th century, pollution problems have arisen in all industrialized areas as well as in various inland and coastal waters and stretches of ocean. The capacity of the biosphere to disperse, degrade and assimilate human wastes is in question. An early sign of environmental limits was the air pollution of the Industrial Revolution, brought on by the burning of coal to run mills and machinery.
It was not until after World War II, however, that pollution came to be viewed by many as a threat to the health of the planet. By the 1960s, population increases, industrial expansion, and burgeoning truck and automobile use were producing wastes in such quantity that natural dispersing and recycling processes could not always keep pace. Exacerbating the problem was the appearance of synthetic substances that degrade extremely slowly or not at all: plastics, fibers, organic pesticides, industrial chemicals and the wastes from their manufacture. Thus, garbage and toxic chemicals polluted the land and infiltrated ground and surface waters. Pesticides have poisoned wildlife, and industrial waste products have contaminated drinking water and, in more severe cases, caused evacuation of homes. Effects of industrial wastes have spread over larger areas as well, such as when toxic mercury reached high concentrations in widely distributed species of food fish in the early 1970s. Airborne industrial wastes created acid rain and, with automobile emissions, produced severe air-pollution problems, including smog, in many urban and suburban communities.
The contribution of pollutants to global environmental problems, such as global warming and depletion of Earth's ozone layer has prompted international meetings and agreements. Radioactive materials from the nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl spread through Europe and Scandinavia; lack of appropriate disposal facilities has led some countries to dump radioactive wastes in the oceans. Current evidence strongly implicates various pollutants in numerous human health problems, such as cancer, birth defects, genetic changes, chronic headaches, fatigue, and irritability, and digestive disorders. By the 1970s many organizations and governments were seeking means of controlling pollution. In the United States., Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed numerous laws for pollution control. Waste disposal long considered routine has become an increasingly complex science and a major industrial challenge. Waste disposal specialists seek solutions to the safe disposal of many hazardous substances, including highly toxic radioactive wastes.
General information on air pollution:
- Air pollution is determined by a combination of weather conditions and what is emitted into the air from a variety of sources -- chiefly motor vehicles, industry, power plants, construction equipment and consumer products.
- Air is essential to life. The average person takes about 20,000 breaths a day, processing almost 3,000 gallons of air or almost two gallons of air per minute.
- Diseases aggravated by air pollution include chronic sinusitis, bronchitis, asthma and allergies. Studies suggest that air pollution can contribute to pulmonary problems in developing fetuses and young children, as well as damage to the immune system in adults.
- The people most vulnerable to health effects of air pollution are children, the elderly, those who work or exercise outdoors and those with chronic respiratory ailments.
- Children are at the greatest risk from air pollution because they breathe in far more air per pound of body weight than adults and their respiratory systems are still developing.
- Elderly people lose important respiratory defense mechanisms as they age.
- Healthy people of all ages who exert themselves strenuously by exercising or working outdoors are affected by air pollution as they are more likely to breathe fast and inhale deeply.
- Scientists are concerned that repeated short-term damage from ozone exposure may permanently change the lung.
- High air pollution levels correlate with higher emergency room admissions and higher related deaths from asthma and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
- In the last 10 years, the incidence of asthma has doubled, especially among minority populations living in urban areas.
- Traffic on the road causes about 40% of the pollutants that react with sunlight to produce ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog.
- Ozone irritates living tissue in the lungs, eyes and nose. It burns your lungs the way the sun burns your skin.
- Vehicle emissions come out the exhaust pipe from the combustion of fuels, and from fumes and evaporation from under the hood, the gas cap and the fuel line.
Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; American Lung Association; Department of Environmental Protection; Department of Public Health; New England Journal of Medicine; Registry of Motor Vehicles; IMS America, National Disease and Therapeutic Index; 1998 World Health Report
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