ReducePollution.info

Health Effects

Pollutants may act at different levels on the human body:

* At the skin – this is the case particularly irritating fumes and phenomena of allergies.
* The mucosa,
* The pulmonary alveoli. Pollutants dissolve and pass into the blood or in liquid superficial.
* Through the bodies – some toxic conveyed by the blood can accumulate in organs.

Pollutants can have effects in various scales:

* Immediate effects, such as those observed in historical accidents,
* Effets in the short term,
* Long-term effects, observed after chronic exposure to concentrations that can be very low.
The limits of concentration in ambient air of certain pollutants (SO2, dust, NO 2, Pb, O 3) imposed by European directives take account of these effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) makes the rules should be followed for various pollutants.

Particles: the more particles are fine they penetrate more deeply into the respiratory system and their residence time is important. They have a dual action related to the particles themselves and they carry pollutants (metals, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, etc.They irritate the human respiratory system and may contribute to the onset of acute respiratory diseases.

Effects on Materials

The materials are mainly affected by the pollution that causes acid degradation of buildings, monuments and building facades. Air pollution threatens our cultural heritage and leads to expensive restoration of the facade or facade restoration of monuments.

Effects on forest ecosystems

The trees live for and die of natural causes varied even that age. The sudden decline observed since 1980 seems to mostly fall causes quite unusual. The officials believe that air pollution is one of the many elements involved in forest dieback. In France, the program DEFORPA (forest decline attributed to air pollution ) as well as research laboratories, have shown that the causes of forest decline are very complex, such as poor soils, drought abnormal presence of pollutants in the atmosphere mainly acid pollution and ozone.

Effects on freshwater ecosystems

The acidification of lakes and rivers often causes irreversible destruction of aquatic life.The decrease in pH causes the dissolution of metals contained naturally in the soil as toxic aluminum in the dissolved state in almost all living organisms.

Urban discharges:
- Escaping gas, hydrocarbons (CO2, CH4 ….)
- Household waste
- Wastewater
- Stormwater
- Aerosol

Microbiological pollution:
- Bacilli (typhoid)
- Virus (viral hepatitis) from sewage discharged into rivers and the sea
- Contamination of swimmers and shellfish beds.

Human pollution:
Spill:
- Liquid whose temperature is higher than the environment (plant, power station …) whose effects alter the habitat (algae, disappearance of certain species of fish, the appearance of others …)
- Off silt-laden water (central hydroliques in the draining, mining aggregate)

Industrial Pollution:
- Organic solvents
- Oils
- Hydrocarbons
- Heavy metals
- Thermal discharges warm water from nuclear power stations in rivers (killing animals)

Agriculture:
- Fertilizers
- Insecticides
- Pesticides
- Intensive livestock contamination is through runoff and seepage into groundwater.

Accidental pollution:
- Oil spills
- Road accident
- Human error
- Disbursement untimely

Pollution acid (or acid rain) is related to acidic pollutants (SO2, NOx, NH3, HCl, HF) emitted by human activities that fall in part to proximity to sources, but also to hundreds or thousands of kilometers of their emitting sources. These pollutants fall as wet or dry deposition. During transport, these pollutants are changing. SO2 and NOx are converted into sulphates (SO 4 2 -) and nitrate (NO 3 2 -) where the atmosphere is dry, as well as sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4) and nitric acid ( HNO 3) where the atmosphere is humid.

The phenomena of acid pollution on a large scale have been highlighted by the acidification of lake waters Scandinavians and Canadians. The pH of water became acid causing significant changes in the fish fauna. Some rain has a pH between 3 and 4, while pure water has a pH of 5.6. Acid deposition have effects on materials, forest ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems.

Eutrophication:-
Eutrophication is a disturbance of the biological equilibrium of soil and water due to excess nitrogen including atmospheric (NOx and NH3) over the absorption capacity of ecosystems.

Photochemical pollution
Photochemical pollution (pollution or photochemical) is a complex set of phenomena that lead to the formation of ozone and other oxidizing compounds (hydrogen peroxide, aldehydes, peroxy acetyl nitrate or PAN) from primary pollutants ( called precursors) of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and energy provided by the Ultra Violet radiation (UV) solar. These phenomena occur in the layers of air near the ground and in the free troposphere. Ozone in the stratosphere (19-30 km altitude), the opposite is called “good ozone” because it protects us from solar UV radiation.

Surprisingly, concentrations of ozone measured away from sources of precursors (eg agglomeration) are higher than those measured near the sources. Indeed, on a city for example, emissions of NO (relating to trafficking in particular) are high. Ozone is destroyed by NO. If the cloud of pollutants formed in the city moves to the countryside, or NOx emissions are reduced, ozone concentrations increase because more ozone is consumed. Photochemical pollution is a phenomenon characteristic of the summer anticyclonic situations.

Ozone’s effects on human health, ecosystems, forestry and agriculture, over this phenomenon of photochemical air pollution is closely linked to acid rain.

After the Environmental Charter, the government has presented a national environmental health. To reduce the effects of air pollution, water and chemicals on our health, 45 leading shares have been announced. Discover the key steps of this program:-

The presentation of national environmental health follows the adoption by the National Assembly of the Environmental Charter to be included in the preamble of the Constitution. This text enshrines the right to live in a balanced and beneficial to health and duty to participate in its preservation and improvement.

No less than five ministers were presented June 21 the National Environmental Health 1. In addition to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, were called as reinforcements Philippe Douste-Blazy, the health minister, Serge Lepeltier, Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development, Jean-Louis Borloo, minister of social cohesion and François Fillon, Minister of National Education. This distribution was intended to highlight the urgency to act:

# 30 000 premature deaths per year are linked to urban air pollution;
# 7 to 20% of cancers are attributable to environmental factors;
# 14% of couples seek help for infertility, difficulties that may be related to exposure to toxic for reproduction;
# Nearly one million workers are exposed to carcinogens;
# The water quality in the natural environment is deteriorating continuously;
# The risk assessment of chemicals is insufficient capacity of expertise French too poorly developed;
# The risks associated with exposure to indoor air are poorly understood, even though people spend about 80% of his time.

To head on these problems, the government has developed a five-year plan intended to make our environment more friendly to our health.

Three goals:- 45 shares, 12 priority … and only 30 million

On the program: three major goals laudable, 45 shares of which twelve were identified as priorities.

* Ensuring clean air and water quality

Reduce by 30% of diesel particulate emissions by 2010, especially through an incentive system of bonus-malus “according to the pollution of vehicles. “The most polluting vehicles, that is to say, most issuers of fine particles and more energy, will apply a penalty, which we will give a bonus to vehicles less polluting and less Consumers Energy has said Serge Lepeltier, Minister of Ecology;

* Reduce air emissions of toxic industrial by 2010;
* From 37 to 100% of drinking water catchments protected by 2010;
* Learning about the air quality and increased regulation;
* Labels 50% of construction materials placed on the market in 2008.

Prevent diseases of environmental origin

# Reducing exposure to occupational carcinogens, mutagens or toxic to reproduction (CMR);
# Strengthening the evaluation capacity of hazardous chemicals;
# Strengthening scientific research.

Better inform and protect the public

# Inform the public and promote public debate, a challenge coordinated by the French Agency for Environmental Health Safety;
# Decrease by 50% the childhood lead poisoning in 2008;
# Launch by 2008 an epidemiological study of 10 000 to 20 000 children, from conception to adulthood to gauge the impact of environment on their health;
# Decrease by 50% of legionellosis cases by 2008.

The first principle of ecology is that every living being in continual relationship with everything that constitutes their environment. They say there is a ecosystem once it is sustainable interaction between organisms and environments.

The ecosystem is analytically differentiated into two sets that interact:

* The biotic community, composed of all living beings
* Within the ecosystem, species have these dependencies, including food. They share with each other and the environment they affect, of the energy and matter. The dead organic matter is one element.

The ecosystem concept is theoretical: it is multiscalar (multi-scale), that is to say, it may apply to portions of varying sizes of the biosphere, a pond, a meadow, or a tree death. A smaller unit is called a microcosm. It may, for example, include species that have colonized a submerged rock. A mésoécosystème could be a forest, and a macro ecosystem a region and its watershed.

The main issues facing an ecologist at the study ecosystems are:

* how was able to achieve colonization of an arid land?
* how continued this trend?
* the current state is stable?
* What are the relationships between the various elements of the system?

Ecosystems are often classified by reference to the biotopes concerned.
* continental ecosystems (or terrestrial), such as forest ecosystems (forests), grassland ecosystems (grasslands, steppes, savannas), agro-ecosystems (agricultural systems);
* inland water ecosystems, benthic ecosystems (lakes, ponds) or lotic ecosystems (rivers);
* oceanic ecosystems (seas, oceans).

Another classification can be done with reference to biological communities (eg, one speaks of forest ecosystem, ecosystem or human).