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Running head: POLLUTION
Pollution
Asthma and Allergies
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Abstract
This paper examines the various adverse effects of one of the major issues concerning today’s world, which is pollution. Pollution has retained to be one of the alarming causes of various adverse and harmful havocs created in the society, and also for many ailment and diseases. This paper, in particular, discusses two newspaper articles relating the topic, one bringing about the causes, symptoms, vulnerability and various other factors of asthma attacks, the other bringing about the vulnerability, the people suffering, and sundry other aspects relating allergies cause by air pollutants, mostly in children. This paper also draws out various methods to check pollution in order to restore harmony in the world.
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Pollution – Asthma and allergies
Pollution is known as the insertion of various pollutants or contaminants in the environment. The issue of pollution has been one of the major issues of today’s world. Since ages, the harmony and beauty of this world has been deviated to a large extent. Many countries have already felt and witnessed the adverse effects of pollution, and many more countries are on the way of witnessing some of the greatest hazards produced due to the involvement of man with nature. Increasing population and increased industrialization has let to the increased rates of air, water, and various other forms of pollution. Many countries have taken up many initiatives against this major havoc, but hardly some of them have been successful. Although, people these days are aware of the causes of pollution and know how to fight against it, hardly any of us actually take interest in eradicating the problem. We have the theoretical knowledge but we do not apply them practically.
There have been many recent articles about pollution in many leading newspapers, about how many pollutants have been depriving mother earth of its various resources and causing havoc in the society, destroying its beauty and harmony. The call of for pollution management is one of the major issues faced by almost all countries today. The situation hasn’t revamped, rather has worsened.
Pollution has also led to many ailments ranging from breathing problems to cancer. These diseases are born out of pollutants contained in air, water, soil (and consequently food crops), and have devastating effects on the lives of people. Asthma is one of the types of ailments born out of pollutants.
Rates of asthma are on a high in developed nations, and it is quite obvious to guess the role of pollution in it. A recent study released by the daily PLos ONE has suggested that traffic pollution has a major role in causing genetic alterations in the womb of a pregnant woman, consequently increasing chances of the child being affected by asthma in future life.
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Asthma Statistics
In a study conducted in 2005, it was evaluated that about twenty million people in America suffered from asthma, which was a huge increase from the rates shown in 2002, that was an estimate of about nine million people. Rates of asthma enhanced about 70% from the eighties t the nineties. Moreover, at an even more alarming rate, asthma among children enhanced at a rate of about 150%. It is evaluated that one in every ten child suffers from asthma in the U.K.
Details and Findings of Study
In a recent study, the umbilical cord blood of sundry children was tested, along with a specific gene. The exposure of the mothers who were pregnant to aromatic hydrocarbons was also traced. These hydrocarbons are produced as the by-products of combustion of various fuels, leading to air pollution and traffic pollution. The research suggested that there existed strong bond between the vulnerability to these hydrocarbons and the various chemical alterations which regulated the functions of the specific gene (ACSL3). Such changes where environmental aspects affect the genetic activities (although they do not actually give rise to genetic mutations or alter their structures) are termed as epigenetic changes. It is suggested that exposures to such environmental havoc can involve with the genetic activities during the stages of development of an individual, which result in the onset of sundry ailments in the future life.
The researches have suggested that in the structures of the membranes of the cells, genes have a significant role to play. Children residing in populated places have higher risks of being affected by asthma. The cord blood samples of their, when examined, showed that their genes had been altered, so there were greater chances of getting affected by asthma, so it makes it easier for treating them at an early stage for the eradication of the problem.
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A significant link has been established between vulnerability to environmental pollution during the early years of a person, thus leading to higher vulnerability to the particular ailment, asthma. Rates of asthma are higher in localities where there are higher rates of pollution due to automobiles. The University of California had suggested in one of its studies that pollution at traffics causes enhancement of the risk factors of a child at being affected and victimized by asthma, if the individual possesses specific genes which could make him or her vulnerable to the disease (Thorax). The study was revealed after the genetic entropy and health of about three thousand children were analyzed.
When a person undergoes an asthma attack, the airways are narrowed and tumesced, filling up with mucus. There are wheeze and coughs, causing the chest to feel tighter. In many cases, asthma can prove to be deadly. They zap about five thousand people each year in the U.S.
Scientists have revealed that pollutants from automobiles, power plants and factories are a primary cause of the attacks related to asthma. In America, over half of the population resides in a locality with bad air with many pollutants. It is estimated that about thirty percent of the asthma in childhood is due to air pollution. Air pollution also triggers the development of the symptoms of asthma in already healthy people.
Air Pollutants that Trigger Asthma
· Ground Level Ozone:
A poisonous constituent of smog, that is ozone, enhances attacks by asthma on an individual and makes already subsisting asthma sorrier. It may also result in the growth of, in children, the symptoms of asthma. Ozone is born at the level of ground when pollutants from trucks and cars combine with sunlight and oxygen. Ozone at the ground level is a massive concern in cities that see large traffics on regular basis, like Houston, New York and Los Angeles.
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· Sulfur Dioxide:
A pollutant hampering the respiratory system assorted with the upcoming of assaults of asthma, sulfur dioxide is
created when crude oil and coal are combusted. In power plants fueled by coal, sulfur dioxide emitted is the worst pollutants. Twenty percent of American residents live within a range of about 9 miles from plants.
· Particulate Matter:
Particulate matters such as soot, diesel exhaust, dust, fly ash, sulfate aerosols and wood smoke pollute air to a great extent. Some of these particulates can get accumulated in the lungs and could activate asthma attacks.
· Nitrogen oxide:
A gas emitted from power plants and automobiles, nitrogen oxide adds to the creation of smog and ozone at the ground levels. It also combines with various other air pollutants to form particulate matters that can result in difficulties in breathing, particularly with people suffering from asthma.
Another major effect or air pollution is allergies. Pollution enhances allergies in children. Vulnerability to pollution from traffic on a regular basis enhances, by fifty percent, the risk of children in developing allergies. This data was released by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine according to a research accomplished by the German Research Centre for Environment and Health at the Institute of Epidemiology in Munich.
Strong links are ascertained between the outcomes of the allergies and the distance from the main road. The capability of air pollutants to activate sundry allergies was proven since ages. But according to recent surveys, they also enhance the vulnerability of children towards allergies even by non-pollutants.
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Researchers ascertained that the risk factors succoring for attacks by allergies enhance as the residence of the child moves closer to the main road. Children residing nearer to major traffic areas are vulnerable to not only particulate pollutants but also aerosols that are freshly emitted and are very harmful and toxic.
About 3000 children were examined within the age group of 4-6 to examine their vulnerability to allergies because of exposure to air pollution. Their exposure was measured on ground of the distance of their residences from the main roads. Their respiratory symptoms and diagnoses were examined, and the children were checked for sneezing, asthma and eczema. Researchers ascertained significant positive links between asthmatic bronchitis and distance to the closest road, hay fever, allergic sensitizations and eczema. They also ascertained a relationship between closeness to the risk of allergic sensitizing and road, with those residing nearest to main roads possessing about fifty percent higher vulnerability to allergic sensitizing.
Earlier surveys have ascertained that allergic sensitization and pollutants are associated, but utilizing proximity from main roads as a major factor for exposure to pollutants has been misunderstood by the risk factors based on the socio-economic grounds that are mostly closely associated with such locales. In this study, researchers ascertained that factors based on economic grounds were not a strong variable in the study, but there was a distinct variation in the allergic developments of the children with regards to the nearness to main roads.
In American cities, asthma and allergies appear to be devastating. Apart from increased pollination, the increased levels of ozone and diesel fumes polluting the air are the major causes for the above problems. In past years, there have been valid proofs that air pollutants trigger allergies and asthma (University of California, Los Angeles). Because the air is worse in towns and cities, surveys have revealed that urban residents are the ones who are most influenced. For asthma and allergy patients, special care must be given not only to the pollen counts, but also to the regular index regarding pollution.
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The enhanced rates of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, particulate materials, etc have increased the rates of pollution in towns and cities, making a comfortable living in the localities almost impossible. In almost every household, we ascertain some or the other member of the family suffering from some or the other disease that must have taken its birth from the pollution in different
forms. Air pollution is one of the major forms of pollution, which affects the entire locality it is concerned with and also the neighboring localities. We all are aware of the risks shown to us because of the industries, automobile, and other factors, but hardly any initiative is taken at the individual level to solve the problem.
Conclusion
Although the quality of air becomes better in many parts of the world over the past 10-15 years, air pollution, even now, comprises risks on health for millions of the earthlings. Taking up sterner standards for air quality for ozone and particulate materials would succor clean the air by bestowing countries a better equipment to push polluters to clean up; it would also convince industries to move to fuels that are cleaner and pollution-free as an alternative to dirty exhausts of diesel. These pollutants have been associated to cancer as well as asthma. Requisition of power plants fuelled by coal that function without sulfur dioxide, in order to capture their emissions, would also succor decrease risks on health grounds for sufferers of asthma and the residents who reside in the localities closer to the polluted areas. Risks for people who reside near these polluting localities and asthma sufferers are higher. Using more fuel-efficient, clean -running trucks and cars on the road can reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and sundry other chemicals that have an impact in ozone formation.
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References
Chow, R. (2008). Asthma Risk in Children Raised by Traffic Pollution Exposure of Pregnant Mothers. Retrieved from Naturalnews.com.
Browning, L. D. (2008). Road Pollution Blamed for Higher Allergy Risk in Kids. Retrieved from Naturalnews.com.
Szeftel, A. (2007). Air Pollution and Allergies: A Connection? Retrieved from Medicinenet.com.
Gutierrez, D. (2008). Pollution Increases Allergies in Children. Retrieved from Naturalnews.com.
Carroll, L. (2003). Air pollution spurs allergies, asthma. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/