Smog is a Great Health Hazard
Today we fortunately have national and local agencies whose job is to prevent such horrible disasters. They constantly monitor air pollutant levels and atmospheric conditions. Based on their findings, stronger guidelines and legislation will likely be implemented to protect our health. However problems do persist. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that the number of Americans living in areas that don’t meet air quality standards “was as of 1998 over 120 million.” Over 64 urban areas don’t meet federal standards of air quality – standards which many say are not safe enough to keep our air healthy!
When industrial pollutants and car exhaust react with sunlight dangerous chemical reactions occur. The most dangerous of these produces ground-level ozone O3. Ozone, the Earth’s protective layer high above our planet, guards plant and animal life from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation. Yet at ground-level, where we eat, breathe and live, ozone combined with pollutants is responsible for smog’s trademark “haze”. This has a smothering toxic effect on the city dweller on smoggy days causing choking, coughing and eye-burning.
In many ways the problem of smog is worse now than 50 years ago. Hopefully we will never have air pollution disasters on the scale of some in the past. No one wants to live through suffering like that of the disastrous London smog of December, 1952. A thermal inversion settled a fog on this great city on the Thames, trapping the pollutants spewed from its heavy industries and thousands of chimneys. Before the crisis abated, more than 4,000 people were dead and countless had fallen ill. Hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from cyanosis, a condition in which a person actually turns blue for want of oxygen!
Recently, the EPA approved new, more protective air quality standards. According to EPA estimates, these new standards will prevent “15,000 premature deaths yearly, 350,000 cases of aggravated asthma and 1 million cases of decreased lung function in children.” Because of these new standards, many cities and urban areas will monitor air and become more alert to air pollution problems.
Dangerous Ground-level Ozone Smog
“Ground-level” ozone, a key component of smog, damages human lungs, animals, crops, even buildings and paint. Some areas are considered “serious” by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) who plan to clean up the environment in America.
According to the EPA, cars and trucks contribute more than 50% of the locally-generated air pollution. The remainder comes from solvent evaporation, surface cleaning and coating, petroleum production and marketing, other mobile sources (boats, trains, planes), combustion engines and other miscellaneous sources.
The health effects of ozone focus on the respiratory tract: asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory disorders are worsened by high ozone concentrations. High ozone concentrations are especially harmful to children, the elderly, those with respiratory illnesses and people who exercise outdoors, walking, jogging, biking, etc. in smog.
It’s best to become politically aware of all situations that affect your health in the region where you live. Vote accordingly for those laws and regulation that protect your rights, especially to breathe clean, non-toxic air!
