Air Pollution Can Reduce a Child's IQ. (NaturalNews) Exposure to air pollution in the womb can significantly reduce a child's IQ, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health in New York and published in the journal Pediatrics. The researchers conducted the experiment on pregnant, non-smoking black and Dominican American women between the ages of 18 and 35 who were living in the New York City neighborhoods of Harlem, South Bronx or Washington Heights. The participants wore personal air monitors during pregnancy, providing the researchers accurate data on the women's exposure to a class of air pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
The participant's children were then subjected to standardized IQ tests at age five. "These results provide evidence that environmental PAHs at levels encountered in New York City air can affect children's IQ adversely," the researchers concluded. Sources for this story include: www.upi.com; latimesblogs.latimes.com. Pollution. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.[1] Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. Ancient cultures Air pollution has always accompanied civilizations. Pollution started from prehistoric times when man created the first fires.
Official acknowledgement King Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke became a problem.[4][5] But the fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow. It was the industrial revolution that gave birth to environmental pollution as we know it today. Modern awareness Forms of pollution Pollutants. NASA instrument tracks pollution from Russian fires. Drought and the worst heat wave Russia has seen in 130 years have sparked a devastating outbreak of wildfires across the nation this summer, primarily in the country's western and central regions. According to wire service reports and Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, as of Aug. 6, 2010, some 558 fires were burning.
The fires have killed at least 52 people, destroyed some 2,000 homes and charred more than 1,796 square kilometers (693 square miles). Russia's capital city of Moscow is currently blanketed in a thick smog, which has curtailed activities and disrupted air traffic. According to the Associated Press, levels of carbon monoxide pollution in Moscow are at an all-time high, four times higher than normal. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft is tracking the concentration and transport of carbon monoxide from the Russian fires.
AIRS is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., under contract to NASA. Air Pollution Raises Blood Pressure According to New Study. Warming, Overfishing, Plastic Pollution Destroying Ocean Life: Scientists. Natural gas industry freely pollutes Pennsylvania's drinking water. (NaturalNews) Drilling for natural gas has become a hot new industry.
But in Pennsylvania, the practice is literally destroying the environment. Unlike other states, Pennsylvania allows the natural gas industry to dump its partially-treated waste into rivers and streams that are used for drinking water, even though the toxic sludge is heavily polluted with salt and dangerous heavy metals. And a recent Associated Press report indicates that the few safeguards that do exist often do not even work. The report found that more than a fifth of the waste, or 1.28 million barrels, dumped by the industry every year goes unaccounted for because of poor reporting protocols. Some polluters routinely dump far more toxins than are legally permitted, which end up making their way into drinking water. Even protections for the Delaware River, which provides water for 15 million people, have been openly violated in the past as companies dumped their waste freely without penalty.
What is Nonpoint Source Pollution? | Polluted Runoff. Motor oil is one source of nonpoint source pollution. (Photo courtesy of NOAA) What is nonpoint source pollution? Nonpoint source pollution generally results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification. The term "nonpoint source" is defined to mean any source of water pollution that does not meet the legal definition of "point source" in section 502(14) of the Clean Water Act. That definition states: The term "point source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture. Nonpoint source pollution can include: Top of page.
China air pollution: 'Slightly polluted' or 'hazardous'? This photo shows two images of the view from CNN's Beijing Bureau, one from a blue sky day and one from a polluted day. China rated Beijing air 'slightly polluted' that U.S. standards rated 'hazardous' this weekBeijing officials use equipment from the U.S. to monitor air quality, but standard is lowerPublic complaints over Beijing's worsening air quality on microblogs are commonGovernment has put environmental protection as a priority in its latest 5-year plan Editor's note: Editor's note: "Jaime's China" is a weekly column about Chinese society and politics.
Jaime FlorCruz has lived and worked in China since 1971. He studied Chinese history at Peking University (1977-81) and served as TIME Magazine's Beijing correspondent and bureau chief (1982-2000). (CNN) -- As I type this week's column, I look out of my office window and stare at a depressing sight. A heavy blanket of smog and dust hangs over the sky. I checked the website of the China National Environmental Monitoring Center. How we know human activity is causing warming. When we drive, fly or power our homes with air-polluting sources, we release gases that heat our planet.
The science is clear. Burning fossil fuels does damage Burning fossil fuels such as coal or petroleum sends carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping “greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere. Gradually, temperatures climb. Think of it like a thermal blanket around the Earth. Clearing forests worsens warming Chopping down vast swaths of forests, known as clear cutting or deforestation, adds to the problem. We need the trees because they absorb carbon dioxide. The chief danger: carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide has caused most of the warming, science tells us.
For 800,000 years, natural amounts of carbon dioxide ranged from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm). We know this extra carbon dioxide comes mainly from burning coal and oil because of the chemical composition of the gas. Here’s what you can do Just sign up below to receive news and alerts. Is your washing machine contributing to the 'microplastic' pollution problem in the world's oceans?
(NaturalNews) Much of the clothing people wear today is made with polyester, acrylic, rayon, and various other synthetic textile materials. And a new study published in the American Chemical Society (ACS) journal Environmental Science & Technology has found that, when washed, such garments release high amounts of "microplastic" fibers that end up polluting the world's oceans. Scientist Mark Browne and a team of researchers from Ireland, Canada, the UK, and Australia discovered that thousands of tiny fiber bits are shed from clothes every time they are washed.
In tests, a single garment released as much as 1,900 polyester or acrylic threads, which are typically smaller than a pinhead. And eventually, these fibers ended up washing out to sea. After poring 18 different coastlines around the world, Browne and his team learned that masses of these microplastic fibers are collecting on shores, particularly on those near densely-populated urban areas.
Sources for this article include: Toxic China: Widespread lead pollution is poisoning children. (NaturalNews) Though set to become the world leader in manufacturing within the next few years, China has one of the worst track records for rampant environmental pollution with industrial materials and chemicals. And a recent report out of the town of Dongtang, which is located in China's major manufacturing region of Guangdong, has revealed that at least 160 local children there have been poisoned by lead pollution released from local factories.
Reuters reports that ongoing investigations in the region have revealed "elevated" levels of lead in the blood of many children who live near heavy manufacturing plants. And many of these plants produce products like batteries that involve the use of lead and other heavy metals, which end up getting released into the air and water, oftentimes contaminating local crops and the food supply. To address the problems themselves, some local Chinese residents have staged protests and boycotts of companies emitting the deadly pollution. Infobase Learning - Login. Coal power: air pollution. Burning coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxics. In an average year, a typical coal plant generates: 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary human cause of global warming--as much carbon dioxide as cutting down 161 million trees. 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which causes acid rain that damages forests, lakes, and buildings, and forms small airborne particles that can penetrate deep into lungs. 500 tons of small airborne particles, which can cause chronic bronchitis, aggravated asthma, and premature death, as well as haze obstructing visibility. 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), as much as would be emitted by half a million late-model cars. 720 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), which causes headaches and place additional stress on people with heart disease. 220 tons of hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOC), which form ozone. 114 pounds of lead, 4 pounds of cadmium, other toxic heavy metals, and trace amounts of uranium.
Pesticides are one of top three 'worst toxic pollution problems' on planet, say non-profit groups. (NaturalNews) The Blacksmith Institute (BI), an international non-profit environmental health organization devoted to solving pollution problems around the world, in conjunction with Green Cross Switzerland (GCS), a group that helps clean up pollution, recently co-released a comprehensive report entitled The World's Worst Toxic Pollution Problems. In it, researchers explain how agricultural pesticides represent the number three worst pollution problem on the planet. The report was compiled based on data collected over a three year period from thousands of toxic "hotspots" around the world, all of which were in low- and middle-income countries. The team that compiled the report primarily analyzed how various pollutants affect local people groups rather than the world at large, which means the negative effects of these pollutants are far worse on a global scale.
The team also focused on what it calls the "most relevant and urgent" pollutants in terms of toxicity and negative impact. Pesticides. Air Pollution Facts, Air Pollution Effects, Air Pollution Solutions, Air Pollution Causes. Smog hanging over cities is the most familiar and obvious form of air pollution. But there are different kinds of pollution—some visible, some invisible—that contribute to global warming. Generally any substance that people introduce into the atmosphere that has damaging effects on living things and the environment is considered air pollution. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the main pollutant that is warming Earth. Though living things emit carbon dioxide when they breathe, carbon dioxide is widely considered to be a pollutant when associated with cars, planes, power plants, and other human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas.
In the past 150 years, such activities have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years. Another pollutant associated with climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Pollution. Acid Rain? | Pollution. At the end of the last century, a great environmental crisis came from above in the form of acid rain.
As the precipitation “killed” lakes and streams, alarming studies reported massive die-offs of trees and fish. A 1984 Congressional report estimated that acid rain caused the premature death of about 50,000 people in the United States and Canada. But in the last decade, acid rain has all but fallen off the radar. So is the threat really over, or just in hiding? As long as we’ve been burning fossil fuels, acidic liquid has been falling from the sky. A British chemist coined the term “acid rain” in 1856, in the early throes of the industrial revolution, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that the world took notice.
In the 1974 Science paper “Acid Rain: A Serious Regional Environmental Problem,” which made “acid rain” a household term, scientist Gene Likens and his team reported on New Hampshire rain showers as acidic as lemon juice. Air pollution news and articles. Acid pollution in rain decreased with emissions, long-term study shows. Emissions regulations do have an environmental impact, according to a long-term study of acidic rainfall by researchers at the University of Illinois. The National Atmospheric Deposition Program collects rainfall samples weekly from more than 250 stations across the United States and analyzes them for pollutants. The program recently released a report detailing trends in acidic rainfall frequency and concentration over 25 years, from 1984 to 2009.
"This is the longest-term, widest-scale precipitation pollution study in the U.S. In particular, we wanted to see how the trends in the pollution and the rain correlated back to emissions regulations," said Christopher Lehmann, a researcher in the program, which is part of the Illinois State Water Survey at the U. of I. The phenomenon commonly known as "acid rain" has widespread effects not only on the ecosystem, but also on infrastructure and the economy. "What goes up does come down," Lehmann said. "We still have acid rain," Lehmann said.