Says Ing. Krzysztof Skotak, expert of the Institute of Environmental Protection and the National Research Institute in Warsaw.
Air pollution ranked seventh in the ranking of the greatest health threats to humans. And there are about 100 of them. It is impressive! We have nothing to fear, right? Especially us, Poles – unfortunately, in terms of air pollution, we are the leader in Europe.
That’s the truth. The air we breathe is of inadequate quality. And we breathe it non-stop, day and night.
But we don’t have smog every day …
And here, the often misunderstood issue of what the word smog means and what is air pollution should be corrected right away. Smog is not a synonym for air pollution, although, of course, both phenomena adversely affect our health. Smog arises in certain situations, when there are elevated concentrations in the air under unfavorable dispersion conditions.
We have winter smog and summer smog. The first one is caused mainly by the emission of particulate matter, soot, sulfur and nitrogen compounds and results mainly from the combustion of solid fuels in households. Summer smog is created as a result of photochemical reactions in cloudless weather and high temperatures in the presence of the so-called ozone precursors which are mainly emitted from transport.
Also read: “Time for clean air”. We still know too little about air pollution
In the context of particulate matter, PM2,5 and PM10 are most often referred to. Are there any others that are dangerous to your health?
Yes, but that does not exhaust their diversity. The smaller, the finer the airborne dust particles are, the more dangerous they are. For example, PM2,5 dust reaches the entire body through the respiratory system. It is worth knowing that particulate matter contains a number of harmful substances, including dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals – substances entered by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on the list of carcinogens. Epidemiological studies show that every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in air pollution increases the likelihood of death by 6%.
Not so long ago, we thought that the biggest air polluters in our country were large industrial plants. Today we know that the biggest culprits are individual farms, where everything at hand is burned in stoves … But are large plants really without fault at the moment?
Let’s start with the fact that our energy is based on coal, which already explains a lot when it comes to the emission of toxic compounds into the atmosphere. High carbon emissions have specific negative effects. In addition, we burn solid fuels in the service sector, in small businesses and in households. It is the dust emitted from individual sources that is a huge problem.
It is estimated that over 50 percent. emitted dust comes from here. If we add to this the cross-border influx of pollutants (I am not even talking about emissions from natural sources such as forest fires or sand from the Sahara), a very disturbing picture indeed emerges in terms of air quality.
By breathing such polluted air, we are probably the most vulnerable to disease in our respiratory system?
In principle, there is no organ that would not be adversely affected by polluted air. The entire body is at risk, but most of all the circulatory system. These effects are most noticeable in young children, pregnant women, and people with chronic diseases. Some will show up earlier, others later.
Also read: Air pollution is a health hazard
What can we do to avoid or at least minimize these effects? The World Health Organization has placed polluted air on the list of the greatest problems it plans to highlight in 2019. And what can we do in our Polish backyard?
Specific solutions are needed, such as those relating to the search for new energy sources or fuel quality, but most of all it is necessary to educate decision-makers and the society. Of course, this should be followed by financial outlays that should be incurred to achieve this goal.
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Coming back to education, I strongly support campaigns such as “Time for clean air”. They undoubtedly lead to a better understanding of the threats posed by inadequate air quality and possible actions taken to reduce the observed levels of pollutants in the air. There are also important actions that we can take individually, because it depends largely on ourselves what kind of air we breathe and what its impact on our health will be.
Thank you for the conversation.
Post-authorization interview. Press interview prepared by the Journalists for Health Association for the 23.05.2019th edition of the Medicinaria seminar entitled Health consequences of air pollution. Medical Center of Postgraduate Education, XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX, Warsaw.