Pollution & Its Effects on Humans

Pollution has negative effects on human health. The effects will depend on the type of pollutant and how it is delivered. Solid waste, such as garbage or other waste that is thrown in to a landfill, can result in both air and water pollution. Industrial pollution can include air, water or radiation. Regardless of the type of pollution, its effects on people are almost always negative.

Air Pollution
Air pollution can come from a number of sources. It can also be one of several types. One type of air pollution is particulate pollution, such as fine sand blowing in from a work site or desert or particulates in exhaust from diesel vehicles. The second type of air pollution is chemical pollution, and this can include sulfur dioxide emissions from factories or carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions from cars. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide can kill people. Long-term exposure to particulates is linked to a number of respiratory illnesses.

Water Pollution
Water pollution can come from a variety of sources, including industrial sources, agriculture or landfills. There are many forms of water pollution, each of which can have a different affect on humans. For example, runoff from nutrient-rich agricultural fertilizers cause blooms of toxic algae, which can make people sick both when the water is consumed and if people swim in the water. Damage to marine ecosystems from toxic algae can also trigger food shortages in some areas.

Radiation
Radiation is rarely talked about as a pollutant. Radiation pollution isn't common, but has long-term effects on people. Radiation pollution occurs naturally in areas with high concentrations of radioactive elements and through radon gas buildup in homes. More intense radiation pollution usually occurs with the failure of a nuclear reactor or in a nuclear explosion. Radiation can cause anything from mild sickness to near instant death. Radiation also causes genetic damage in cells, which cause them to grow out of control. Out-of-control cell growth is cancer.

Solid Waste
Solid waste is usually thought of as the garbage that goes into landfills. Solid waste can leach into water. Decomposing organic material in solid waste can create methane, an explosive gas that contributes more per ton to global warming than carbon dioxide. Solid waste can also be a breeding ground for disease, which is easily transmitted in areas where people forage for recyclable materials in garbage dumps.

Industrial Pollution
When people think of industrial pollution, they generally think of chemical pollution. Chemicals can pollute air, water and soil. In some cases, entire communities are affected, such as in Love Canal, New York. The community of Love Canal was built on land that was once a chemical waste dump. The company that built the dump, the Hooker Chemical Company, capped the waste with what it thought was an impenetrable clay barrier. An explosion breached the barrier, allowing the waste to leach into ground water. The chemicals, called dioxins, were causing a large number of birth defects and miscarriages. The entire community had to be abandoned. In other cases, such as Leadville, Colorado, lead mining and tailings created very high concentrations of lead in the soil. The top layer of residential areas is currently being removed and replaced with uncontaminated soil. Lead can cause learning difficulties and cognition problems in children.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/about_5279283_pollution-amp-its-effects-humans.html

Future Effects of Pollution

The debate over how modern society's pollution emissions will effect tomorrow's world is hard to ignore. The long lag time between pollution and measurable results combined with unpredictable human factors make climate predictions a subjective matter. The federal agency that regulates environmental and public health, the Environmental Protection Agency, believes the world must reduce greenhouse emissions and pollutants, those caused by the burning of fossil fuels, or face some dangerous consequences.

Considerations
Much of the debate over the effects of pollution stem from the inherent uncertainty in climate change science. Nobody can predict what pollution policies might look like in the next decade. Climate change models extrapolate data based on current trends and cannot give the future much weight. Essentially, the future effects of pollution require the predictor to make subjective assumptions about the future, which carries a great deal of variability.

Warming
The idea that greenhouse gas emissions will warm the earth significantly by 2100 is one of the most widely accepted effects of pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Although life needs greenhouse gases to warm the earth, too much warmth disrupts the life cycle. Exactly how this extra warmth will effect life remains uncertain. Current information provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claim that global warming could wipe out 20 to 30 percent of earth's species.

Rise in Sea Levels
The EPA reports that the sea level rose about five inches during the 20th century. The International Panel on Climate Change's models predict the ocean level will rise between 0.5 feet and two feet by the end of the 21st century. If the sea levels rise in accordance with IPCC estimates, a lot of current coast land will either erode away or fall below sea level.

Human Health
How the effects of pollution will impact the public will vary from region to region. The EPA estimates that major cities like Chicago and Los Angeles will experience at least 25 percent more heatwaves. However, this heat could counteract the death from extreme cold spells. Parasites like mosquitoes thrive in warmer climates, which could mean more mosquito carried diseases like malaria. An increase in smog should also exacerbate respiratory illness.

Food Supply
Climate changes to the seasons could disrupt the world's supply of food, according to the EPA. While food production might benefit from shorter cold seasons, this comes with an increase in severe weather like floods and droughts that ruin entire crops. Soil will likely benefit from increased carbon dioxide levels, but extreme rainfall patterns could negate this benefit. More frequent droughts will erode soil into dust and reduce arable land.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/about_5533642_future-effects-pollution.html