“Air pollution is terrible for our children. Every single scientist, every single doctor
will tell you the same thing: Air pollution damages our children’s brains,
their hearts, and their lungs.” — Julianne Moore
***
Today’s column does not pertain to the theme song from the Hollywood film, Top Gun, which received the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 58th Academy Awards. But rather, it is about air pollution, defined as the contamination of both indoor and outdoor environments by chemical, physical, or biological agents that alter the natural properties of the atmosphere.
“Air pollution is not merely a nuisance and a threat to health. It is a reminder that our most celebrated technological achievements-the automobile, the jet plane, the power plant, industry in general, and indeed the modern city itself-are, in the environment, failures,” observed Barry Commoner.
Air pollution has been an escalating issue in the Philippines for many years. The historical path towards industrialization in the country has undergone various stages that have exacerbated its air quality problems. The swift industrial growth during the 20th century led to a proliferation of factories and vehicles that released harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that about 2,500 million people in the world are exposed to excessive levels of indoor air pollution, largely due to burning biomass and coal indoors in ovens that are badly designed and lack proper chimneys.
Some 1.9 million additional deaths each year are blamed on rural indoor pollution through suspended particulate matter and another 450,000 deaths are attributed to urban indoor air pollution.
Although people usually speak of the material they breathe simply as “air,” it is actually a mixture of substances. Clean, dry air is mostly (99 percent) nitrogen gas and oxygen gas. However, clean air contains several other substances that, although present in only small quantities, are still very important.
Like water and natural resources, air can also be polluted. In our country, sources of air pollution include emissions from three sources: mobile like vehicles, stationary such as power plants and factories, and area which comes from garbage burning, road dust and open cooking. Burning of agricultural waste in rural areas also causes air pollution.
The most common forms of air pollutants are suspended particulate matter (SPM), carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons (which include benzene, xylene, and ethylene dibromide), sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and residues of the highly toxic tetraethyl lead, a substance added to gasoline to enhance its octane value or “burning quality.”
SPM refers to any tiny solid particle dispersed from pesticides, asbestos and thousands of other products. The most noticeable type of air pollution (since it is readily visible), it often attracts and carries chemicals through the air such as dust-carrying sulfuric acid. “Smog” – a hybrid word used to describe the mixture of smoke and fog that blankets some cities – is primarily composed of ozone and particulates.
A joint study made by the United Nations health agency and the United Nations Environment Program some years back identified Metro Manila as one of the 20 cities with a population of around 10 million, “where air pollution is posing increasingly serious health problems to its residents.”
Nearly 5,000 premature deaths are reported each from Metro Manila due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases “from exposure to poor air quality,” said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which monitored the study.
Metro Cebu closely trailed Metro Manila with 608 premature deaths as a result of outdoor air pollution. Davao City was third, with 414 cases of premature deaths due to inhalation of polluted air. Rounding the top five were Zamboanga City (240 premature deaths) and Iloilo City (204 premature deaths).
These days, breathing can be a dangerous business – particularly if you are living in the cities. “The air in most urban areas typically contains a mixture of pollutants, each of which may increase a person’s vulnerability to the effects of the others,” wrote Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts of the Washington, D.C.-based Earth Policy Institute.
“Exposure to carbon monoxide slows reflexes and causes drowsiness, since carbon monoxide molecules bind to hemoglobin, reducing the amount of oxygen that red blood cells can carry. Nitrogen dioxide can aggravate asthma and reduce lung function and make airways more sensitive to allergens. Ozone also causes lung inflammation, and reduces lung function and exercise capacity,” she added.
Smaller particulates (10 micrometers in diameter or 1/2,400 of an inch or smaller), can become lodged in the alveolar sacs of the lungs. These account for a higher number of admissions to hospitals, particularly for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. As particulate concentrations in the air rise, so do death rates.
Research published in Science noted that in industrial as well as developing countries, exposures to current levels of ozone and particulates “affect death rates, hospitalizations and medical visits, complications of asthma and bronchitis, days of work lost, restricted-activity days, and a variety of measures of lung damage.”
Dr. Gerard Hoek, in a study published in Lancet, reported that those living near a major road have a higher risk of dying than the rest of the population. He concludes that long-term exposure to traffic-released air pollution may shorten life expectancy. — ###
