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https://www.sciencealert.com/a-shocking-99-of-us-are-now-breathing-unhealthy-air-who-warns>
"We often take the air we breathe for granted, but new data reveals that the
pollutants behind millions of preventable deaths now taint the air most of us
breathe at unhealthy levels.
"Air pollution has an impact at a much lower level than previously thought,"
says World Health Organization technical officer Sophie Gumy, in reference to
WHO's recently updated air quality guidelines.
Based on an analysis of air pollution data covering more than 6,000 cities in
117 countries, WHO says 99 percent of the world's population now breathes air
that does not meet the updated safety guidelines. This covers 80 percent of the
world's urban areas.
With each breath, invisible nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from vehicles, construction
equipment, industrial boilers, power plants, and so on, flows deep into our
lungs. There, it can irritate our delicate airway tissues, causing increasing
inflammation, triggering allergies, and asthma and reducing lung function.
NO2 also greatly increases the risk of developing childhood asthma. It has also
been associated with lower weight in newborns, as well as cardiovascular
disease, even with short term exposure.
We also inhale fine particulate matter (PM) carried by the air, made up of many
different substances including natural desert dust as well as all sorts of
pollutants from microplastics, cooking fires, industry, agricultural
activities, burning fossil fuels, and wildfires. WHO is monitoring particulate
matter with diameters equal or smaller than 10 μm (PM10) or 2.5 μm (PM2.5)."
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
