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General Effects of Air Pollution

byEnvironmental Sciences •
General Effects of Air Pollution
Air pollution on has considerable effects on many aspects of our environment: visually aesthetic resources vegetation, animals, soils, water quality,natural and artificial structures, and human health.
Air pollutants affect visual resources by discoloring the atmosphere and by reducing visual range and atmospheric clarity so that the visual contrast of distant objects is decreased. We cannot see as far in polluted air, and what we do see has less color contrast. These effects were once limited to cities, but
they now extend to some wide open spaces of the United States. For example, near the area where the border of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah meet, emissions from the Four Corners fossil fuel burning power plant are altering the visibility in a region where in the past visibility was normally 80 Km (miles) from a mountaintop on a clear day. 
The effects of air pollution on vegetation include damage to leaf tissue, needles, or fruit; reduction growth rates or suppression of growth; increases susceptibility to a variety of diseases, pests,and adverse weather; and the disruption of reproductive processes.
            Some parts of the world, air pollution is thought to be a significant factor in the human death rate for example, it has been estimated that in Athens  the number of deaths is several times higher on days that are heavily polluted and in Hungary,where air pollution has been a horrendous problem in recent years, it may contribute to as many as 1 in 17 deaths. The United States is certainly not immune to health problems related to air pollution. The most polluted air in the country is found in the Los Angelles urban area, where millions of people are exposed to unhealthy air. It is estimated that as many as 15 million people live in areas of the United States where the air is unhealthy and that exposure to air pollution is a factor in as many as 120,000 deaths per year, resulting in annual health costs of about 50 billion.
Air pollutants can affect human health in several ways and organs in (Figure X). The effects on an individual depend on the dose or concentration of exposure and other factors, including individual susceptibility, Some of the primary effects of air pollutants include toxic poisoning, causing cancer, birth defects, eye irritation, and irritation of the respiratory system; an increased susceptibility to viral inflections, causing pneumonia and bronchitis; an increased susceptibility  to heart disease; and aggravation of chronic diseases, such as asthma and emphysema. In urban areas people suffering from respiratory diseases are most likely to be affected by air pollutants; healthy people tend to acclimate to pollutants in a relatively short period of time. However, this is a physiological tolerance. Urban air pollution is a serious health problem. Many of the pollutants have synergistic effects (in which, the combined effects are greater than the sum of separate effects). For example, sulfate and nitrate may attach to small particles in the air, facilitating their inhalation deep into lung tissue, where greater damage to the lungs may occur than is attributable to either of these pollutants alone (this is a synergistic human health effect). This phenomenon has obvious health consequences; consider joggers breathing deeply of particulates as they run along the streets of a city.
The effects of air pollutants on vertebrate animals include impairment of the respiratory system; damage to eyes, teeth, and bones; increased susceptibility to disease, pests, or other stress-related environmental hazards: decreased availability of food sources (such as vegetation impacted by air pollutants); and reduced ability to reproduce.
Air pollution can degrade soil and water resources when pollutants from the air are deposited.Soils and water may become toxic from the deposition of various pollutants. Soils may also be leached of nutrients by pollutants that form acids. The effects of air pollution on human-made structures include discoloration, erosion, and decomposition of building materials; these effects are discussed when we
explore the topic of acid rain later on this website.




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