How air pollution hurts your kids' lungs

April 21, 2008|By Judy Fortin CNN Medical Correspondent                                                                                                                         Twice a day, 7-year-old Hannah Austin exhales all the air from her lungs. She then takes a puff of a low-dose steroid from a purple inhaler, holds her breath for a few seconds and exhales.

Like nearly 7 million other children in the United States, Hannah, a second-grader from Smyrna, Georgia, has asthma. This simple exercise with the inhaler allows her to breathe easier.

But on a day when the air quality is poor, she often struggles to catch her breath."We know that environmental pollutants have a very significant impact on children with asthma," said Dr. Avril Beckford, a pediatrician in Austell, Georgia.

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution because their lungs don't fully form until they are adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics noted.

The leading pediatricians group added that "because children spend more time outdoors than do adults, they have increased exposure to outdoor air pollution."

"If you live near a polluted area of a city, it's like the child is smoking," said best-selling author and pediatrician Bill Sears. "We all know what smoking does for the lungs."

Sears called the long-term effect of air pollution on a developing child devastating. "Children do not grow as well because they do not breathe as well. The brain really needs a lot of oxygen. They don't think as well. They don't learn as well."

Hannah's asthma was diagnosed last summer. Her mother, Drew Austin, became alarmed when she noticed that Hannah was short of breath while swimming.

"When her asthma is really bad, she just gets lethargic and starts coughing," Austin said.

Coughing, wheezing or whistling when exhaling, and shortness of breath are some of the most common symptoms of asthma in children.

Sears warned that the symptoms can lead to poor sleep habits. "When the child wakes up in the morning with a runny nose and baggy eyes, you can tell they didn't sleep well because they were coughing in the night," he said.

Proper diagnosis and treatment can help manage asthma symptoms. Experts also recommend that people with asthma avoid indoor and outdoor allergens and irritants.

Indoor triggers include dust mites, mold, furry pets, tobacco smoke and certain chemicals.

Outdoor irritants range from pollen to cold air to air pollution.

Michael Chang, an atmospheric research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, estimated that 50 percent of air pollutants are created by cars and trucks.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Summary:   Children with Asthma nowadays are having a hard and harder time trying to breathe with the air quality we have now. Since kids lungs don't grow until they are in their teen years, they are always outdoors so they have a bigger risk of air pollution. When the air pollution is bad, the kids can’t focus as well because the brain needs oxygen and if the brain doesn't have it it doesn't work properly. 

                                                                                                                                                                                 1.What can we do to prevent air pollution?                                                                                                                                     2. How do we stop pollution now?                                                                                                                   3.are their any real ways to stop pollution?

smog hits fast and hard

The title of the article is “Wyoming plagued by big-city problem: smog”, it was posted on Tuesday; march 8, 2011 by Mead Gruver. It talks about how the city Cheyenne, Wyoming got hit by of the record smog levels after it began drilling for natural gas. The smog was in some of the largest quantities ever seen and even exceeding the levels seen in LA. Some of those levels are as high as 124 PPB, which is 2/3 greater than what the EPA says is healthy, which is 75 PPB. Wyoming has one of the lowest unemployment rates so getting jobs is not a problem for them that mean that they are putting profit ahead of health as said by Elaine Crumpley, a retired science teacher who lives just outside Pinedale. With that, their mountains are slowly losing their amazing look and the quality of their city is degrading because of the pollution being given off by the drills for natural gas.

In my opinion this is an important topic not because it it’s a revolutionary way to stop pollution but because it shows that anybody can get hit by this pollution, which is slowly spreading everywhere. It shows that if you have one coal burning power plant or one drilling operation going you have a chance of this happening to you. It also shows how inefficient our methods are and how much we need to work on to make them better, and how it effects everybody.

1. Should we make off less drilling operations and any refining process that pollutes air more efficient, or make more but have them be smaller?

2. Should the EPA shut down companies if they are the reason they exceed healthy reasons?

3. Would it be easier to devolve on the technological scale and go back to how it was in colonial times to stop pollution?

article

Long Term Affects of Air Pollution

Sources article: http://www.livestrong.com/article/213109-long-term-effects-of-air-pollution/
              picture: http://www.avaqmd.ca.gov/index.aspx?page=369

Summary:

            Chemicals are released in small and large amounts when we use our cars, operate factories, and burn coal for electricity, and these chemicals are toxic to humans. Prolonged exposure to air pollution has been linked to many pulmonary diseases and causes 64,000 deaths per year. It is also related to cardiovascular issues in areas with high air pollution, shortening peoples lives by as much as 3 years. Another danger of air pollution is toxic particulates, such as lead, mercury and arsenic. These particulates build up in your system and cause health problems. Arsenic can even increase your risk for cancer. 

Questions:

1. What are some ways we can limit air pollution?

2. Do you think stricter laws should be implemented to control air pollution?

3. What is your opinion on global warming? Is it natural cycle or is it human created air pollution causing the problem?

Global Warming

 website for article: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html

Summary: This article that I read from the New York Times really gave me an update on the global warming issue. The United States is giving off a lot of fossil fuels and so are up and coming countries like India and China. They have resorted to burning an abundance of coal. With these increases in emissions 2012 was the hottest year of all time in the United States. This has people worrying about what their future will be like. Some people are wondering why even though there was a treaty past to try and meet and discuss how they can stop global warming we still see countries not doing anything.

Opinion: I think that we need to find an alternative energy source to take over as our number one provider. If we do not stop the increase in fossil fuel burning who knows what kind of world we will be living in. Also 2012  being the hottest year in the United States is definitely scary to think about. Sooner than later there will be a major disaster if we do not stop now. Finally on point to the treaty, i think that we need to have a sit down with all of the leaders and they can decide the correct path to take. We need to have that conference soon so that we can have a strait plan for the future.

Questions:

What is your opinion on the current situation on global warming?

Do you think that global warming is important enough at this time?

What should our leaders be doing to fix this problem?

Monitoring Ground Level ozone from space

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829153413.htm

Title: Monitoring Ground-Level Ozone From Space
Author: N/A
Publication date: August 30th 2011

Summary: This article talks about how the Aeronautics and Space Administration, Agricultural Research Service conducted a survey on the effects of ground-level ozone from using satellite monitors and ground monitors. This has showed that it has had an effect on crop yield, but the effect has lessened as we become more environmentally friendly. Satellite can track everything while the ground monitors are not in place everywhere, and can give us great insight on how the ground level ozone is effecting our crops. Even though we are refusing our use of harmful chemicals, it is still having an impact on soybean, peanut, cotton, rice, tomato and other crops. As the population grows, we will need more food, and the population growth will be more harmful to the ozone, which will yield less crops.

Opinion: I think that this information can be used to monitor and educate the effect of our ozone. If this data is used to educate people, people might stop using more pollutants because they are the ones that are suffering. In my life, I have learned of all the struggles that food shortages have caused, and this could cause those struggles. As more population grows and more pollution enters the ozone, food will be shortened. However, with this technology from satellites we could stop this future problem.

Questions:

1. How important do you think this information is and why?
2. Who do you think will be most effected by this and why?
3. How much do you think the growing populations of China and India will effect the ozone and why?

Sean Rich