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Air Pollution

em also have serious effects on other aspects of the environment. Some of the major pollutants are discussed here. But there are hundreds more and many of them demonstrate the same clear conflict between known harms and continued use as, for example, methylene chloride. Among chemicals, it is "the most common U.S. air pollutant and has been classified as a probable human carcinogen," yet in 1990 it was still in widespread use as a metals degreaser and paint remover (Piasecki & Asmus, 1990, p. 42). Annually, American industry still spills over 2.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. They include 70 "known or suspected human carcinogens," and the air in industrial areas and larger cities "typically contains a hundred different chemicals known to cause cancer or genetic mutations in experimental animals" (Steingraber, 1997, p. 179).

Among the principal gases that pollute the earth's atmosphere the most important are carbon dioxide, which is not directly harmful but adds to the greenhouse effect, and carbon monoxide, which is poisonous. Both are products of transportation and over 40 million metric tons of dangerous carbon monoxide alone are dumped into the atmosphere by automobiles every year in the United States. Fuel combustion and other industrial processes account for another 13 million metric tons of carbon monoxide per year (Moeller, 1992, p. 14). Overall, "the vast majority of the pollutants most clearly linked to increased morbidity and mortality are energy related," deriving from the emissions of power plants, vehicles, and industry (Romm & Ervin, 1996, p. 390).

Particulates is "a broad term encompassing thousands of types of chemicals" (Romm & Ervin 1996, p. 391). Particulates can either be relatively large, 10 microns or less in size, or very small, 2.5 microns or less. They primarily cause problems when, because of their small size, they slip past the body's defenses and lodge in people's lu...

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Air Pollution. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:24, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1706508.html