Air pollution is a broader term used to describe air pollution in outdoor environments. Poor ambient air quality occurs when pollutants reach concentrations high enough to affect human health and/or the environment. Urban outdoor air pollution is a more specific term that refers to the ambient air pollution experienced by populations living in urban areas, typically in or near cities.
Updated 2018
SECTION I: HEALTH EFFECTS OF AMBIENT AIR POLLUTION
Q.1 What is air pollution compared to urban outdoor air pollution?
Air pollution is a broader term used to describe air pollution in outdoor environments. Poor ambient air quality occurs when pollutants reach concentrations high enough to affect human health and/or the environment.
Urban outdoor air pollution is a more specific term that refers to the ambient air pollution experienced by populations living in urban areas, typically in or near cities.
Q.2What are the health consequences of air pollution?
Exposure to high levels of air pollution can have a variety of adverse health outcomes. It increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. Both short- and long-term exposure to air pollutants have been linked to health effects. More serious effects affect people who are already ill. Children, the elderly and the poor are more vulnerable. The most harmful pollutants - closely linked to excess premature mortality - are fine PM2.5 particles that penetrate deep into the lungs.
Although air quality has generally improved in high-income countries in recent decades, the adverse health effects of particulate air pollution, even at relatively small levels, remain a global public health concern.
Q.3What is particulate matter - PM2.5 and PM10?
Particulate Matter or PM is the term for particles found in the air, including dust, dirt, soot, smoke and liquid droplets. Large concentrations of particulate matter are typically emitted from sources such as diesel vehicles, waste and crop incineration, and coal-fired power plants.
Particles less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10) are a health concern because they can be inhaled and accumulate in the respiratory tract.
Particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) are referred to as "fine" particles and pose the greatest health risks. Because of their small size (about 1/30th the width of an average human hair), fine particles can get deep into the lungs.
Q.4What is the burden of disease associated with air pollution?
Air pollution was responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths globally in 2016. About 88% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Regional breakdown (low- and middle-income countries)
- Southeast Asia: 1,332,000 deaths
- Western Pacific: 1,255,000 dead
- Africa:425 000 Tote
- Eastern Mediterranean: 319 000 dead
- Europe: 304 000 deaths
- America: 164 000 Salt
Regional breakdown (high-income countries)
- Europe: 205 000 deaths
- America: 95 000 Salt
- Western Pacific: 82,000 dead
- Eastern Mediterranean: 17 000 dead
Q.5What information does WHO collect on exposure to air pollution (outdoor)?
The WHO maintains a worldwide, public database on outdoor air pollution in its Global Health Observatory.
The database contains measured outdoor air pollution levels of PM2.5 and PM10 from over 4000 cities in 108 countries for the years 2010-2016. These are used as input for estimating the average annual particulate matter pollution for both urban and rural populations. Links to the database and further information on collecting the dataYou will find here.
In 2013, WHO formed a broad collaboration between WMO, UN Environment, other key institutions and UN agencies, country representatives and researchers, called the Global Platform on Air Quality and Health (the Platform). The platform meets regularly to review the latest evidence on air pollution and health, including the current epidemiological literature on air pollution-related mortality and morbidity; methods for improved air quality and health monitoring and source attribution; identifies research priorities and opportunities for collaboration between agencies and institutions.
Q.6 How is WHO responding to the health effects of air pollution?
The main task of the WHO is to identify and monitor the air pollutants with the greatest impact on human health. This helps WHO Member States to focus their actions on the most effective way to prevent or reduce health risks. WHO's mission is to review and analyze the accumulated scientific evidence and use expert advice to draw conclusions about the extent to which various air pollutants affect health and to identify effective measures to reduce exposure to air pollution.
Q.7What steps should be taken to prevent the health effects of air pollution?
Governments can identify their main sources of air pollution and implement measures known to improve air quality and public health, such as: Promoting power plants that use clean and renewable fuels (e.g. no coal) and improving the energy efficiency of homes, commercial buildings and manufacturing.
Key accompanying steps are raising awareness of the high burden of disease from air pollution and its main sources, and emphasizing the importance of taking action now to implement country-specific interventions. In addition, the use of effective monitoring to assess and communicate the impact of interventions is also an important awareness-raising tool. It can help drive policies that deliver health, climate and environmental benefits.
The healthcare sector itself has a role to play at both policy and patient level to prevent the health impacts of air pollution. Public health professionals working at the policy level can advocate for health benefits in policies that affect air pollution and health. At the clinical level, physicians, nurses, and community health workers can talk to their patients about the health risks of air pollution and the measures available to protect themselves or minimize the impact of high levels of air pollution (e.g. exercise among vulnerable populations during acute episodes of high air pollution).
F.8 WHO claims that reducing air pollution can lead to significant reductions in mortality. Is that correct and where can I find more information?
By reducing the annual mean ambient concentration of PM10 from 70 to 20 µg/m3 and of PM2.5 from 35 to 10 µg/m3 in line with the target values of the 2005 WHO air quality guidelines, a 15% reduction in terminality risk can be achieved (http://www.who.int/airPollution/publications/aqg2005/en/).
The WHO estimates that 12.5% of deaths worldwide could be prevented by improving air quality. Reduced air pollution will reduce the burden of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, healthcare costs and lost worker productivity due to illness, and increase the life expectancy of local populations.
In addition, measures to reduce air pollution will also reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, particularly black carbon, which is an important component of black carbon emissions from diesel vehicles and other sources, and greenhouse gases (CO2), which contribute to longer-term effects of climate change. Climate change has a number of adverse health effects. These include those from droughts and extreme weather events (eg, storms, floods) such as waterborne and foodborne diseases. It also increases the prevalence of vector-borne diseases such as dengue or malaria.
Q.9 What are the public health implications?
Public health recognizes air pollution as an important health determinant. Today, this is particularly the case in low- and middle-income countries, where exposure to air pollution is now higher than in higher-income countries, and where mitigation measures have resulted in reductions in exposure. There is a significant inequality in exposure to air pollution and associated health risks: air pollution combines with other aspects of the social and physical environment to cause a disproportionate burden of disease in vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.
Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by government agencies at national, regional and even international levels.
The health sector can play a key role in leading a multisectoral approach to preventing exposure to air pollution. It can involve and support other relevant sectors (transport, housing, energy production and industry) in the development and implementation of long-term strategies to reduce health risks from air pollution.
Q.10 Are there other risk factors that could contribute to these outdoor air pollution deaths?
Mortality from ischemic heart disease and stroke is also influenced by risk factors such as high blood pressure, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking and household air pollution. Some other risks of childhood pneumonia include suboptimal breastfeeding, being underweight, second-hand smoke, and household air pollution. Active smoking and passive smoking are also major risk factors for lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These risk factors can contribute to deaths caused by air pollution.
SECTION II: PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY FOR AMBIENT POLLUTION
Q.1 What public policies can reduce the health impacts of air pollution?
In order to reduce the impact of air pollution on public health, the main sources of air pollution need to be addressed, including inefficient burning of fossil fuels from motor vehicle transport, electricity generation, agricultural practices, burning of waste and crops, and inefficient use of energy in buildings. households and production.
Reducing the health impacts of air pollution requires action by public authorities at national, regional and even international levels. Individuals can help improve air quality by choosing cleaner options for transportation, energy use, power generation and waste disposal.
The public health sector can play a leading role in initiating a multisectoral approach to preventing exposure to air pollution by engaging in and supporting the work of other sectors (e.g. transport, housing, energy, industry) to improve them over the long term develop and implement policies and programs aimed at reducing air pollution and improving health.
Q.2 What are the challenges countries are facing and what are the barriers to supporting air quality improvement?
Sufficient knowledge exists internationally about the health effects of air pollution, but what can often limit policy development to improve air quality is the lack of access to information on air pollutant levels and their main sources of pollution.
There is also often a lack of awareness of the health burdens caused by immissions. This may be due to a lack of knowledge of the international evidence from low- and middle-income countries linking exposure to air pollution and health, or an information gap in air quality monitoring, or even an underestimation of potential solutions and measures to improve air quality.
Improving air pollution is a cross-industry challenge. Improving air quality should be an important aspect of policy planning in different economic sectors (e.g. transport, energy, industry, urban development) to ensure maximum health benefits.
In addition, there is a significant inequality in exposure to air pollution and associated health risks: air pollution combines with other aspects of the social and physical environment, resulting in a disproportionate burden of disease in populations with limited income and minimal local resources to take action.
Q.3 Why do WHO country and regional estimates differ from national or regional (e.g. European) estimates?
One of WHO's tasks is to monitor health trends and therefore internationally comparable data must be provided. The methodology used should apply to all countries, regardless of their exposure levels, the health status of their populations and the amount of exposure and health data available. Hence the use of modeled data, which may differ from measured data (e.g. exposure to air pollution, health statistics) and which almost inevitably may lead to discrepancies with assessments published by countries.
First of all, the type of pollutants considered in the analysis is crucial and WHO provides estimates of the burden of disease for outdoor air pollution from particulate matter (PM2.5) only, while countries may assess additional pollutants such as ozone or nitrogen dioxide.
Second, the nature of the health outcomes (or diseases) involved is critical. WHO uses the comparative risk assessment method to derive their estimates and therefore uses cause-specific diseases. Five diseases are currently being considered, e.g. Lower respiratory tract infections, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke. Some countries may use different or additional diseases or groups of diseases (e.g. cardiopulmonary mortality) or non-accident all-cause mortality in their assessments, which can lead to significant differences in the estimates.
Furthermore, in addition to the above two, three other key components are required to derive estimates of the burden of disease from air pollution. These are:
1) exposure: distribution of exposure levels within the population,
2) exposure-response functions derived from the published literature,
3) Counterfactual or "ideal" exposure levels, which represent the exposure level at which minimal health effects occur
The population exposure to air pollution from particulate matter used by WHO for its assessment is based on a global model using all available surface surveillance data, satellite observations and atmospheric transport models. One of the benefits of this approach is the ability to assess risk in countries where there is little or no locally collected data. Exposure distributions generated by such models for larger regions agree well with surface observation distributions and are more reliable than estimates for smaller ones. National and sub-national estimates are becoming increasingly available as methods advance and locally collected data (from air quality monitoring and emission inventories) become more readily available, as well as the spatial resolution of atmospheric models and satellite data improves. On the other hand, countries use their own ground-monitored data alone or in combination with other locally available data in their exposure assessment, which can lead to different results than the global model.
WHO uses a set of integrated exposure response functions (IER) to derive their estimates. The IER combines the epidemiological evidence for outdoor air pollution, secondhand smoke, indoor air pollution and active smoking to estimate the risk of disease (e.g. stroke) at different PM2.5 concentrations to fill the gaps in the scientific evidence of air pollution outdoors at higher PM2.5. However, countries or regional bodies may use local epidemiological evidence, which may vary slightly.
As a counterfactual exposure level, WHO currently uses a uniformly defined cut-off - and not a fixed value - between 2.4 and 5.9 ug/m3, based on currently available data at the lowest value for which epidemiological studies are available. Other counterfactuals may be used, such as the lowest value for which data are available, or the natural exposure level or an exposure level at which no adverse health effects are anticipated.
All of these ingredients contribute to different health assessments of the health effects of air pollution.
Q.4 How will reducing the number of cars circulating in a major city reduce air pollution and have a positive impact on health and well-being?
Air pollution very often has multiple sources, and addressing just one may not provide enough health benefits. Although most newer automobiles have more efficient engines and use cleaner fuels, the absolute number of vehicles in many cities around the world is still increasing – and with it, air pollution. Indeed, in parts of Europe where stricter vehicle standards and regulations have been enforced, air pollution levels are stable or decreasing, but air quality levels are still above WHO AQG levels. Diesel vehicles also typically emit more particulate matter emissions per kilometer traveled than petrol, gas or electric vehicles of comparable size and age – so increasing reliance on diesel vehicles in the vehicle fleet may be a contributing factor to unhealthy air pollution in many cities. Diesel emissions have also been classified as carcinogenic by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Building cities around fast public transport systems, supplemented by dedicated pedestrian and cycle path networks, is another way to combat the health effects of air pollution. This also tends to favor a “virtuous cycle” of more compact cities, more energy-efficient living, fewer private car journeys and thus fewer air pollutant emissions overall. This helps minimize the health burden of air pollution - and encourages healthy active travel on safe footpaths and bike paths where people are at reduced risk of traffic injuries.
However, it should be borne in mind that depending on the city, transport can be directly responsible for 15 to 70% of urban air pollution in urban areas, so a holistic approach that includes energy, industry and the building sector together with the transport sector is needed to address the Efficiently reducing the burden of disease from air pollution.
SECTION III – HEALTH EFFECTS FROM HOUSEHOLD AIR POLLUTION
Q.1 What is household air pollution?
Household air pollution (HAP) from the inefficient burning of solid fuels (e.g., wood, coal, charcoal, crop residues, dung) and kerosene is one of the leading environmental risk factors for death and disability worldwide, particularly among the poorest and marginalized populations, including women and children. It was formerly referred to as Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), but recognizing that human exposure to air pollution produced by household burning of solid fuels and kerosene is not limited to the indoor environment, this risk factor was renamed HAP to better capture the associated health risks.
Q.2 What are the health effects of exposure to household air pollution?
Exposure to air pollution in households is associated with a variety of health outcomes in children and adults, including respiratory diseases such as acute lower respiratory tract infections (e.g. pneumonia), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease.
Exposure has been linked to other health effects, including other cancers (e.g. cervical cancer), adverse pregnancy outcomes (e.g. low birth weight), cataracts (particularly in women), cognitive impairment and tuberculosis.
Q.3 What is the burden of disease from household air pollution?
Household air pollution is the second-biggest environmental health risk in low- and middle-income countries, responsible for an estimated 3.8 million deaths in 2016 (6.7% of all deaths).
Q.4 What are some of the main sources or causes of household air pollution?
The incomplete combustion of kerosene and solid fuels (e.g. wood, coal, charcoal, crop residues, dung) from the use of open fires or in poorly ventilated simple stoves for cooking, heating and lighting is a major source of household air pollution.
The amount and relative proportion of toxic air pollutants resulting from the incomplete combustion of household fuels depends on a number of factors, including fuel type and moisture content, home ventilation, the behavior of the people using the stove, and the stove technology. The emitted toxic pollutants include particles of different sizes, carbon monoxide, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds and several others. When burning coal, in addition to the above pollutants, sulfur oxides, heavy metals such as arsenic and fluorine are released, which also have very negative health effects.
Q.5 Are there health effects from both short- and long-term exposure to household air pollution?
Both long- and short-term exposure to air pollution in households has health effects. Long-term or chronic exposure throughout life increases the risk of noncommunicable diseases such as respiratory cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Shorter exposure, days to months, can lead to more acute health consequences such as pneumonia and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Household members with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease can have adverse health effects from exposure to very high levels of household air pollution for just a few hours.
Q.6 How does WHO assess the population exposed to household air pollution?
WHO uses the percentage of households in low- and middle-income countries that cook primarily with solid fuels or kerosene as a proxy indicator of exposure to household air pollution. The percentage of households cooking with such combinations of "polluting fuels and technologies" is estimated for a given year using a statistical model based on household census data from the WHO Household Energy Database. This database contains aggregated information on primary cooking fuels used and cooking practices from over 1100 nationally representative data sources such as: See theGlobal Health Observatory.
WHO estimates of exposure to air pollution in households have been an important source of data for tracking and monitoring household energy use and health impacts for over a decade.
Q.7 Which regions and countries around the world are most affected?
WHO uses the percentage of households in low- and middle-income countries that cook primarily with solid fuels and kerosene as a proxy indicator of exposure to household air pollution. According to the latest estimates for 2016, exposure to air pollution from households is highest in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of the African region, where on average 83% of households mainly use polluting fuels for cooking. In LMICs of the Southeast Asia region, 59% of households cook primarily with solid fuels or kerosene, and in other LMICs in other WHO regions, the primary use of polluting fuels ranges from 42% in the western Pacific region to 31% in the eastern Mediterranean and < 15 % in America and Europe.
In some countries, such as Ethiopia and Rwanda, WHO estimates that over 95% of the population depend on solid fuels, suggesting that almost the entire population of these countries is regularly exposed to household air pollution. The WHO estimates that over 1 billion people in China and India each rely primarily on solid fuels for cooking.
Q.8 How does WHO respond to the health effects of household air pollution?
Many efforts are being made to spread clean energy solutions at home, but there is a gap in our understanding of the most effective health protection interventions and data collection on the issue, both nationally and globally. WHO addresses these challenges through its normative guidance, found in the WHO Guidelines on Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion, to assist countries and other stakeholders in implementing the WHO Guidelines on Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion and Build relevant capacities in the country to support SDG target 7 to achieve universal access to clean fuels and technologies by 2030.
Accordingly, the WHO is developing a toolkit for clean household energy solutions:
(i)improving monitoring tools (e.g. national surveys) of residential energy solutions and their impact on health,
(ii) Enhancement of its global household energy database to include more indicators and tools to assess health impacts, including data on the fuels and technologies used for space heating, lighting and to complement cooking practices (i.e. stacking fuel stoves).
(iii) reviewing and compiling the scientific evidence on health, safety (i.e. burns, poisoning) and livelihood effects (i.e. time spent collecting fuel) of household air pollution;
(iv) Work with countries to implement effective monitoring of air quality and its health impacts in both permanent and transient household environments.
Q.9Are there other risk factors that could contribute to these household air pollution deaths?
Mortality from ischemic heart disease and stroke is also influenced by risk factors such as high blood pressure, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking and air pollution. Some other risks of pneumonia include active smoking, suboptimal breastfeeding, being underweight, and second-hand smoke. Active smoking and passive smoking are also major risk factors for lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
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SECTION III WHO GUIDELINES ON AIR QUALITY AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Q.1How does the WHO air quality guidance support Member States?
The WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) inform policymakers about the health effects of air pollutants and set reasonable targets for healthy air quality. Countries can choose from a wide range of policy options the most appropriate to improve air quality and better protect people's health.
The Guidelines are intended for a global audience. They are designed to support healthy air quality actions in different contexts. At the same time, they recognize that each country must establish its own air quality standards to protect the public health of its citizens based on local conditions.
The WHO air quality guidelines are available at:http://www.who.int/airPollution/Guidelines/en/The WHO Air Quality Guidelines are currently being revised and the update is scheduled to be published in 2020.
Q.2 Have there been any new guidelines on the health effects of air pollution since the WHO Air Quality Guidelines, Global Update 2005?
The Air Quality Guidelines, Global Update 2005 remain the most authoritative WHO document on air quality and health, providing a comprehensive overview of the scientific evidence. The guidelines set target outdoor concentrations for particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) that would protect the vast majority of people from the negative health effects of air pollution.The guidelines can be accessed here.
The WHO REVIHAAP project (Review of the Evidence on Health Aspects of Air Pollution) was implemented in 2012-13 and assessed the newly collected evidence on health aspects of air pollution. The results show that this new evidence supports the scientific conclusions of the WHO air quality guidelines, most recently updated in 2005, and suggest that in some cases the impacts occur at air pollution concentrations lower than those used to produce those guidelines.The report can be accessed here.
Q.3Are there any guidelines on the health effects of indoor air quality or household air pollution?
The WHO has published three sets of guidelines for indoor air quality. They address health issues related to (1) dampness and mold, (2) the selected pollutants common indoors, and (3) the combustion of household fuels. These indoor air quality guidelines are available at:http://www.who.int/airPollution/Guidelines/en/
FAQs
What are some questions to ask about air pollution? ›
- What is air pollution? ...
- What causes air pollution? ...
- How does air pollution form? ...
- What types of air pollution are there? ...
- What are the main environmental effects of air pollution? ...
- How does air pollution spread and how can we handle this?
The combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths annually. Household air pollution exposure leads to noncommunicable diseases including stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.
What are the effects of ambient air pollution on health? ›Exposure to high levels of air pollution can cause a variety of adverse health outcomes. It increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. Both short and long-term exposure to air pollutants have been associated with health impacts.
What are the main causes of ambient air pollution? ›Outdoor air is often referred to as ambient air. The common sources of outdoor air pollution are emissions caused by combustion processes from motor vehicles, solid fuel burning and industry.
What are the 3 main effects of air pollution? ›Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema.
What is air pollution question and answer? ›Air pollution is caused by gases and particles emitted to the atmosphere by a variety of human activities, such as the inefficient combustion of fuels, open burning of waste, agriculture, and farming.
Which of these is the most harmful ambient air pollutant? ›Nitrogen Dioxide
NO2 is the most harmful of these compounds and is generated from the combustion of fuel engines and industry. It can damage the human heart and lungs and it reduces atmospheric visibility at high concentrations.
These six pollutants are carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, ground-level ozone, particle pollution (often referred to as particulate matter), and sulfur oxides.
Why is ambient air quality important? ›Breathing clean air can lessen the possibility of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer as well as chronic and acute respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Lower levels of air pollution are better for heart and respiratory health both long- and short-term.
How can we protect our health from air pollution? ›- Reduce or avoid strenuous, outdoor exercise. ...
- Stay away from pollution hotspots such as main roads and busy road junctions.
- Try to get to work a little earlier before rush hour has begun and levels of pollution have built up.
How can we prevent air pollution? ›
- Drive your car less. ...
- Keep your car in good repair. ...
- Turn off your engine. ...
- Don't burn your garbage. ...
- Limit backyards fire in the city. ...
- Plant and care for trees. ...
- Switch to electric or hand-powered lawn equipment. ...
- Use less energy.
What do we mean by ambient air? Safeopedia explains that ambient air is atmospheric air in its natural state, not contaminated by air-borne pollutants. Ambient air is typically 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. The extra 1% is made up of a combination of carbon, helium, methane, argon and hydrogen.
What are the two biggest causes of air pollution? ›Vehicle emissions, fuel oils and natural gas to heat homes, by-products of manufacturing and power generation, particularly coal-fueled power plants, and fumes from chemical production are the primary sources of human-made air pollution.
What is the most common human health response to air pollution? ›Short- and/or long-term exposure to air pollution has been associated with a wide range of human health effects including increased respiratory symptoms, hospitalization for heart or lung diseases, and even premature death.
What are the 4 major indoor air pollutants? ›Indoor air pollutants are particles that are found in the air inside of buildings. In healthcare settings, the four major indoor air pollutants are asbestos, biological pollutants, carbon monoxide, and emissions from cookstoves and heaters. Each of these pollutants can have serious health effects.
What are the biggest causes and effects of air pollution? ›Burning Fossil Fuels
The biggest contributors of air pollution are from industry sources and power plants to generate power, as well as fossil fuel motor vehicles. The continuous burning of fossil fuels releases air pollutants, emissions and chemicals into the air and atmosphere.
Reducing pollutants in the air is important for human health and the environment. Poor air quality has harmful effects on human health, particularly the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Pollutants can also damage plants and buildings, and smoke or haze can reduce visibility.
Why air pollution is a problem? ›Air pollution is bad for our health
Invisible particles penetrate every cell and organ in our bodies, causing acute and chronic diseases, including asthma, strokes, heart attacks and dementia. Outdoor air pollution causes around 4.2 million early deaths every year.
Particulate matter (PM) air pollution, which is predominantly the result of fossil fuel combustion, is recognized as the most deadly form of air pollution globally.
Which air pollutant causes the most serious health hazards? ›Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is the air pollutant driving the most significant health problems and premature mortality.
What is the most serious air pollutant causing health hazard? ›
Option A) Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is considered as the most serious single air pollutant causing health hazard, obstructing breathing. It always leads to airways inflammation, eye irritation, psychic alterations, pulmonary oedema, heart failure and circulatory collapse. It is also responsible for acid rain.
What are the two most common types of air pollution? ›The common air pollutants are: Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2. 5) Ozone (O3)
What are the three most common indoor air pollutants? ›Tobacco smoke. Household products and pesticides. Gases such as radon and carbon monoxide.
Which group of people would be most likely to suffer harm from indoor pollutants? ›In addition, people exposed to indoor air pollutants for the longest periods are often those most susceptible to their effects. Such groups include the young, the elderly, and the chronically ill, especially those suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular disease [1].
What gases does ambient air contain? ›It's a mixture of different gases. The air in Earth's atmosphere is made up of approximately 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. Air also has small amounts of other gases, too, such as carbon dioxide, neon, and hydrogen.
Is ambient air the same as room air? ›As opposed to room temperature, which is a range of air temperatures that most people prefer in indoor settings, ambient temperature is specifically the temperature of the air in any particular place as measured by a thermometer.
How is ambient air measured? ›Monitoring air quality is important because polluted air can be bad for our health—and the health of the environment. Air quality is measured with the Air Quality Index, or AQI. The AQI works sort of like a thermometer that runs from 0 to 500 degrees.
What is an example of ambient? ›Ambient describes some pervasive quality of the surrounding environment, like the ambient lighting in a movie theater, or the ambient temperature of a room. Most times when you're hearing silence, you're hearing some ambient noises too, like the hum of a refrigerator or the whistle of a breeze.
What is another name for ambient air temperature? ›Ambient temperature is the air temperature of any object or environment where equipment is stored. The adjective ambient means "relating to the immediate surroundings." This value is also referred to as the ordinary temperature or the baseline temperature.
What temperature is ambient conditions? ›It means "room temperature" or normal storage conditions, which means storage in a dry, clean, well ventilated area at room temperatures between 15° to 25°C (59°-77°F) or up to 30°C, depending on climatic conditions.
What are some questions about air? ›
- Are there any parts of the human body that get oxygen directly from the air and not from the blood?
- Can air make shadows?
- Does sound travel faster in space?
- How do airplanes fly upside down if it's the shape of the wings that make them fly?
- How do plants get their nitrogen from the air?
Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.
What are some questions to ask about environment? ›- How is the environment around you? ...
- Describe the most natural environment for a human being. ...
- What kind of pollution personally bothers you most?
- What kind of pollution is worst for our health?
- What do you do with a piece of trash when there is no trash can near you?