Pollutants are what? What are they and what harm do they do?
Pollutants are different kinds of pollutantshabitat. They affect negatively not only the environment, but also our health. What are the pollutants, what harm they cause and how to deal with them - read in the article.
Statement of the problem and the search for its solution
The fact that we ourselves pollute the air, whichbreathe, at first people did not even think about it. For the first time, they began to sound the alarm after an epidemic of diseases swept through London in the 1950s. People got serious health problems, up to several registered deaths, as a result of poisoning with "black smog". The blame for everything was air polluted with coal smoke.
As a result of the tragedy, humanity realized thatchemical pollution is not a joke, and has become more serious about this issue. To date, in developed countries, a number of measures have been taken to prevent the harmful effects of pollutants. But if their short-term exposure to high concentrations is almost impossible today, in the long run, pollutants can still lead to chronic health problems. And this should not be forgotten.
What is the harm caused by the pollutants? Statistics and scales
Although pollutants are unequivocally negativesubstances for human health, the degree of their influence is difficult to classify. After all, they are very diverse, occur in relatively low concentrations and often give a very delayed effect.
However, one can get some idea of"The scale of the disaster." For example, according to the following data. Air pollution from automobile exhausts causes more harm to Europeans than all road accidents. And in America there is a clear statistics of deaths, according to which 4% of people die every year because of health problems caused by "bad air."
What are they like?
Although there is no clear classification to date, it is possible to identify varieties of pollutants and to identify which types represent the greatest danger to humans and the environment.
Depending on the area of contamination, the following are distinguished:
- Aeropollutants - affecting the air that we breathe.
- Hydropollutants are water pollutants.
- Terrabolutants - these substances pollute the earth.
Classification of pollutants in place and type of pollutant
The environment is polluted from various sources. In this regard, the pollutants are divided into:
- Industrial, coming in the form of production waste, for example, harmful gases.
- Household, containing chemical detergents.
- Agricultural, representing waste from farms and livestock complexes.
In addition, inorganic and organic pollutants are isolated from the main substance, its origin and effects.
The main industrial and technogenicpollutants are dust and gaseous substances, radioactive and magnetic radiation. They enter the atmosphere as a result of the activities of industrial and energy facilities.
On the other hand, the negative impact ofindustrial, municipal and household waste, contaminated with harmful substances. Here and pesticides, and chemicals saturated with chemicals that are used in the production and agriculture.
A large percentage of pollutants is contained inoil products. Infecting the ecosystem, they disrupt the biological balance for years to come. Therefore, the problem of eliminating them, and, if possible, preventing it, is very acute today.
How do pollutants affect human health?
As a rule, they fall into the human bodywith contaminated air during breathing. So, the harmful effect is primarily on the respiratory system. Suffer from almost all organs, from the lungs to the nasopharynx.
What looks like a common cold at first,accompanied by a cough or a sore throat, can subsequently develop into a more serious illness. Chemical pollutants lead to chronic bronchitis, can lead to the development of pneumonia or substantially exacerbate the already existing disease. Especially fatal they affect the work of the respiratory system in children, whose body is not yet strong enough to fight their effects.
Particles of polluted air can deterioratethe activity of the heart and blood vessels, negatively affect the nervous system, lead to the development of tumor diseases and even reduce the ability to procreate. As you can see, the usual urban air is actually much more dangerous than you think.
How is the problem solved in our country and abroad?
Scientists have long established that pollutants aresubstances that cause serious damage to health and the environment. In a number of countries, special laws have been adopted that strictly regulate the level of harmful emissions into the atmosphere, for example, in Germany, Japan and the USA.
In our country, this too is given seriousAttention. True, the problem is aggravated by the fact that the air in the European part of Russia is heavily polluted by pollutants carried over long distances. Falling with atmospheric precipitation, they negatively affect the soil and water. And since the direction of the air masses relates all the "harmful" from the countries of Western and Eastern Europe to us, and not vice versa, it is not surprising that the problem of chemical pollution is particularly acute.
Nevertheless, we are strictly regulatednorms for the concentration of toxic substances, control of self-cleaning processes of the ecosystem, normal processes of embryogenesis of living organisms are maintained.
It can be said that pollutants are annoyingfactor, without which it is practically impossible to manage in the modern world, saturated with production and chemical processes. But science does not stand still, and catastrophes like the London one still manage to be avoided.
