4/24/2019

ASSIGNMENT
(ATE-212)

Name-Hari Viswanathan
Section-M1791
Registration Number-11702155
Roll Number-24
Subject-Homologation and Pollution Control
 Effects Of Pollutants
On Environment And
Human Health
1) In this presentation we will talk about the effects caused on
environment and human beings by substances called Pollutants.
To understand their effects we have to understand what they
are. Now what are pollutants? A pollutant is any substance
which harm, animals, vegetation or material.
2) As far as humans are concerned an air pollutant cause or
contribute to an increase in mortality or serious illness and they
pose a potential hazard to human health.
3) The determination of whether or not a substance poses a health
risk to humans is based on clinical, epidemiological, and animal
studies which demonstrate that exposure to a substance is
associated with health effects. In the context of human health,
‘‘risk’’ is the probability that a noxious health effect may occur.
4) Environmental pollution is currently the biggest challenge facing
the word today .In the United States 40% of rivers and 46% of
lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, and aquatic life. Not
surprising though when 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated storm
water, industrial waste, and untreated sewage are being
discharge annually into American waters.

5) There are many sources of pollution and each one has its own
effect on the environment and living organisms with the current
rate of soil degradation caused by improper agricultural and

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industrial practices, and deforestation, at this rate most of the
world’s topsoil could be gone within the next 60 years.

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 What are the health issues caused by
these pollutants?
1) Health effects can be distinguished to acute, chronic not
including cancer and cancerous.
2) Epidemiological and animal model data Sporadic air
pollution events, like the historic London fog in 1952 and a
number of short and long term epidemiological studies
investigated the effects of air quality changes on human
health.
3) A constant finding is that air pollutants contribute to
increased mortality and hospital admissions. The different
composition of air pollutants, the dose and time of
exposure and the fact that humans are usually exposed to
pollutant mixtures than to single substances, can lead to
diverse impacts on human health.
4) Human health effects can range from nausea and
difficulty in breathing or skin irritation, to cancer. They also
include birth defects, serious developmental delays in
children, and reduced activity of the immune system,
leading to a number of diseases.
5) Moreover, there exist several susceptibility factors such as
age, nutritional status and predisposing indicate that
primarily affected systems are the cardiovascular and the
respiratory system.
6) However, the function of several other organs can be also
influenced
7) Effects of air pollutants on different organs and systems-
Numerous studies describe that all types of air pollution, at
high concentration, can affect the airways.

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8) Nevertheless, similar effects are also observed with long-
term exposure to lower pollutant concentrations. Symptoms
such as nose and throat irritation, followed by
bronchoconstriction and dyspnoea, especially in asthmatic
individuals, are usually experienced after exposure to
increased levels of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and
certain heavy metals such as arsenic, nickel or vanadium.
9) In addition particulate matter that penetrates the alveolar
epithelium and ozone initiate lung inflammation. In patients
with lung lesions or lung diseases, pollutant-initiated
inflammation will worsen their condition.
10) Moreover air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides
increase the susceptibility to respiratory infections .
11) Finally chronic exposure to ozone and certain heavy
metals reduces lung function, while the later are also
responsible for asthma, emphysema, and even lung cancer.
12) Emphysema-like lesions have also been observed in
mice exposed to nitrogen dioxide.
13) Cardiovascular system Carbon monoxide binds to
haemoglobin modifying its conformation and reduces its
capacity to transfer oxygen. This reduced oxygen
availability can affect the function of different organs (and
especially high oxygen consuming organs such as the brain
and the heart), resulting in impaired concentration, slow
reflexes, and confusion.
14) Apart from lung inflammation, systemic inflammatory
changes are induced by particulate matter, affecting
equally blood coagulation. Air pollution that induces lung
irritation and changes in blood clotting can obstruct
(cardiac) blood vessels, leading to angina or even to
cardiovascular diseases. Finally pressure and anaemia due
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 to an inhibitory effect on haematopoiesis have been
observed as a consequence, epidemiologic studies have
linked dioxin exposure to increased mortality caused by
ischemic heart disease, while in mice, it was shown that
heavy metals can also increase triglyceride levels.
15) By this we can say that pollutant emition is the most
dangerous for us Human Beings as it takes away our well
being.

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Conclusion:
1)This brief review presents the adverse
effects of a number of (air) pollutants in
human health.
2)As shown, major impairments of different
organs can be observed.
3)The main conclusion drawn is that, in view
of increased exposure of humans in a
diversity of pollutants, dietary
interventions, rich in plant-derived foods,
may protect or decrease their effects on
different organs.
4) This conclusion is supported by a number
of epidemiological studies on the beneficial
effect of a Mediterranean-type diet on
human health.
5) So Increase of Pollutants is a major
problem for our world and we should take
suitable measures to stop it.

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 How Do Pollutants Affect The
‘Environment’?

1) Each pollutants emitted to the atmosphere can affect directly

or indirectly the human health.
2) Along with harming human health, air pollution can cause a
variety of environmental effects, such us acid rain,
eutrophication, effects on wildlife, ozone depletion, crop and
forest damages, global climate change.
3) Some pollutants can also play important role in weather
situations (e.g. reduction of visibility, forming of clouds and
precipitation, modification of radiation budget etc.).
4) At the same time, the state of the atmosphere is also affects
the degree of air pollution through several processes (e.g.
photochemical activity, transport and deposition processes
etc.).
5) Nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide (NO) too, next to the sulphur
dioxide are other precursor compounds of acid rain.
6) NO and NO2 can dissolve in water forming weak solutions of
nitric and nitrous acids.
7) Additionally, nitrogen oxides can cause several other
environmental problems, such as the decrease of the visibility
or eutrophication.
8) Pollutants can also damage the natural ecosystems and
endanger wildlife.
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9) Some Pollutants can react with ozone molecules and they can
lead to Ozone Layer Depletion. Greenhouse Effect is also
caused by Pollutants like CO2.It is a very serious problem
which can cause various dangerous phenomenon.
1) Carbon monoxide in the atmosphere as a precursor
compound in tropospheric ozone formation, can
contribute to the photochemical smog episodes.
2) Sulphur dioxide can react with ozone or hydrogen
peroxide in the atmosphere, produced sulphur trioxide,
which can dissolve in water, forming a dilute solution of
sulphuric acid.
3) When this strong acid reaches the surface by
precipitation or dry deposition (“acid rain”), it can be
damaging to organism.

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Conclusion:
1)Conclusion of this part is that we should adopt
the term Sustainability because Sustainability is
the key to prevent or reduce the effect of
environmental issues.
2)There is now clear scientific evidence that
humanity is living unsustainably, and that an
unprecedented collective effort is needed to
return human use of natural resources to within
sustainable limits.
3)For humans to live sustainably, the
Earth's natural resources must be used at a rate
at which they can be replenished (and by
limiting global warming).

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