The document discusses sources of both natural and anthropogenic air pollution and their health impacts. It notes that over 3 million deaths per year are caused by outdoor air pollution while indoor air pollution from burning biomass for cooking and heating results in over 2 million deaths annually, especially among women and young children. Specific pollutants like particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, and radon are examined in depth regarding their formation, levels, and effects on human health and the environment.

1. AIR HYGIENE:
Air Pollution and Health
General Hygiene. Lecture N6
Dr. Djsupov Kenesh

2. Scope of the problem
• Atmospheric air pollution:
• more than 3 million people dye (90% in developing
nations) every year, more than from war -
intentional warfare
• Indoor air pollution:
• 2.8 million mortalities worldwide
• 8th most important risk factor and responsible for
2.7% of the global burden of disease, 3.7% - in
developing countries

3. Natural sources of Air
• Space dust - 520 bln tons
• Volcanic activity, which produce
sulfur, chlorine, and ash particles -
120 bln tons.
• Dust from land with little or no
vegetation.
• Methane, emitted by the digestion
of animals, usually cattle.
• Pine trees, which emit volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) and
oxygen.
• Radon gas from earth minerals.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide from
wildfires.

4. Anthropogenic sources of
air pollution
• Combustion-fired power plants
• Oil refining
• Industrial activity in general
• Vehicles with internal combustion engines
• Aircraft engines (benzpyren, 2-3mg/min)
• Stoves and incinerators, especially coal
ones
• Dust and chemicals from farming,
especially of erodible land (Dust Bowl)
• Farmers burning their crop waste
• Waste deposition in landfills, which
generate methane
• Wood fires, which usually burn
inefficiently

5. Anthropogenic sources of
air pollution
• Military actions, including the use and
testing of nuclear bombs, poison gases,
and germ warfare.
• Rocketry, which produces many tons of
exotic emissions quickly and which
deposits some of them directly into the
tenuous upper atmosphere.
• Aerosol sprays and refrigeration on
Freon and other chlorofluorocarbons.
• Fumes from paint, varnish, and other
solvents.
• Arsenic and chlorine found in drinking
water and inhaled in bathroom showers.

6. Air Pollutants
• CO (from combustion process - petrol vehicle exhausts) -
97,441 thousand tons/year in USA , 75,151 of those -
transportation related exhaust (EPA)
• Chlorofluorocarbons,
• Hydrocarbons (Benzpyrenes)
• Lead and heavy Metals
• Nitrogen oxides, or NOx (NO + O3 --> NO2) - 25,393 tons/
year in USA (EPA)
• Ozone (O3)
• Volatile organic compounds: gasoline, solvents, cleaning

7. • Suspended Particles
of dust, soot, etc:
• TSP fraction (Total
Suspended Particulates)
• PM10 fraction (less than
10 ϻ)
• PM2.5 fraction (less than
2.5 ϻ)
• PM 1 (less than 1 ϻ)
• Nanoparticles
Air Pollutants

8. Smog
• Dr. Henry Antoine DesVoeux, 1905
• “Smoke” and “Fog”
• London, December 1952

9. Smog
• Photochemical smog (braun or summer
smog)
• Reducing smog (gray or winter smog)
• Acid aerosol

10. Temperature inversion
• A temperature inversion is a meteorological
phenomenon where air temperature increases
with height
• “Stillness” of the air, murky air

11. Great London smog of
1952
• 5/12/1952, London - cold
weather with moist air
• 1000 tones of smoke particles.
• 2,000 tones of CO2
• 140 tones of HCl
• 14 tones of fluorine.
• 370 tones of SO2 --> 800
tones of H2SO3
• PM10 - 14 mg/m3 (56 fold
higher the normal level at the
time
• SO2 - 7 fold peaking at around
700 ppb

12. Health effects of London smog
• An increased N of
deaths from 2000 to
(4000) 8000 per week
• Increased hospital
admissions and sick
days
• Respiratory effects
• Short term decrease in
breathing ability and
increase in chest pains
• Inflammation of the
lungs and damage to
respiratory cells
• Permanent lung
damage and reduced
quality of life due to O3

13. Health effects of London smog
• Increased N of asthma attacks due to
NO2
• Cardiovascular effects
• A lack of oxygen in the bloodstream in
those with heart disease due to CO
• Increased risk of cancer
• Increased susceptibility to infection
among children
• 1956 Clean Air Act, 1968 Clean Air
Act;Tall Chimneys

14. Photochemical smog
• 3 main ingredients: NOx, hydrocarbons (VOC: acetaldehyde, formaldehyde,
ethylene, and etc.) and sun ultraviolet light (UV).
• driving in the morning (gasoline is burned, N
2
in the atmosphere is also
burned, or oxidized, forming NO) N
2
+ O
2
=2NO
• Within a few hours: 2NO + O
2
---------> 2NO
2
• Sunlight energy + NO
2
--> NO + O
• Then, in sunlight, O+ O
2
--->O
3
• If no other factors are involved, O
3
+ NO<------>NO
2
+ O
2
. If there is a
lot of sunlight, the equation moves to the left, and more O
3
is produced. If
nothing else gets in the way, an equilibrium is reached, and O
3
stabilizes.
• However, there is something else involved. When hydrocarbons are
present, NO reacts with them instead of O
3
. This reaction produces a toxic
products, such as a volatile compound known as PAN (peroxyacetyl
nitrate).
• NO (NO
2
) + hydrocarbons----------------->PAN and various other

15. Ozone and health
• 82 ppb
• Irritation of the nose and throat, coughing, painful
breathing, and reduced lung function. People who
exercise late in the afternoons and early in the evenings
(highest concentration) can expect pain while inhaling, as
well as the more common symptoms associated with
ozone exposure. Long term exposure to smog at low
levels can affect lung elasticity and the lungs' ability to
resist disease, effectively aging lungs prematurely.
• Children, the aged, asthmatics, and sufferers of other
chronic lung diseases are more susceptible to smog
effects than the general population.
• Decrease of ozone layer --> increase of UV level -->
increase of carcinogen morbidity and mortality

16. Ozone and economy
• Destroy most forms of synthetic materials (low level exposure of
ozone in a few months can cause cracks in rubber and synthetic
rubber products up to total disintegration. Ozone damages the
integrity of cotton, acetate, nylon, polyester, and other textiles
(bleaching materials, dyes, paints, and coatings)
• The health problems associated with smog lead to higher health
care costs.
• Crops are damaged by smog: in Ontario alone, the damage done
to food production through ozone exposure can be as high as
$70 million per year.
• Ground level ozone is linked with damage to Canada's red and
sugar maple trees, as well as other species of trees that make up
part of Canada's forestry industry.
• Estimates in the U.S. ground level ozone for up to $1 billion
per year in damage to materials exposed to the pollutant.

17. Indoor air pollution (IAP)
• More than half of the world’s population rely on dung, wood, crop waste or
coal to meet their energy needs
• In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can exceed acceptable levels
for small particles in outdoor air 100-fold
• Every year, IAP is responsible for the death of 1.6 million people - that's one
death every 20 seconds - due to pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease
and lung cancer, with the overall disease burden
• In developing world, IAP is responsible for an estimated 3.7% of the overall
disease burden, making it the most lethal killer after malnutrition, unsafe sex
and lack of safe water and sanitation
• IAP increases the risk of pneumonia among children under 5 years, and
chronic respiratory disease and lung cancer (in relation to coal use) among
adults over 30 years old.
• Moderate evidence for a link with lung cancer from exposure to biomass
smoke, and for a link with asthma, cataracts and tuberculosis.
• Tentative evidence for an association between IAP and adverse pregnancy
outcomes, in particular low birth weight, or ischaemic heart disease and
nasopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers

18. Radon and other
radioactive factors
Гамма-
излучения
почвы и
стройматериа
лов 15%
Прочее 1%
Медицинское
19%
Вода и пища
8% Космические
излучения
13%
Радон 46%

19. Radon

20. Radon and Health
135
8
71
4
57
3
29
2
15
1
9
1 3
1
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
750 370 300 150 75 50 15
1000 курящих подвержены всю
жизнь данному уровню радона
1000 некурящих подвержены
всю жизнь данному уровню
радона
Число случаев рака легких
Концентрация радона (Бк/м3)

21. • Shower water mist containing arsenic
• Radon gas exuded from the earth and trapped inside houses is
responsible for over 1,800 deaths/year in the UK.
• Building materials including carpeting and plywood emit formaldehyde
gas
• Paint and solvents give off VOCs as they dry.
• Lead paint can degenerate into dust and be inhaled.
• Asbestos insulation is carcinogenic in the lungs.
• Intentional air pollution is introduced with the use of air fresheners,
incense, and other scented items.
• Controlled wood fires in stoves and fireplaces can add significant
amounts of smoke particulates into the air, inside and out.
• Clothing emits perchloroethylene for days after dry cleaning
• Second-hand tobacco smoke accounts for 3,000 lung cancer deaths
annually in the US
• Biological IAP: gases, particulates, allergens (dander pollenand dust), bed
mites, mold spores, and microbes (Legionnallas)
Indoor air pollution (IAP)

22. • Pneumonia and other acute lower respiratory
infections are responsible for more than 900 000 deaths/year
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is
responsible for approximately 700 000 deaths/year
• Lung cancer is responsible for 150 000 deaths/year
• Disproportionate impacts on children and women -
more than 2/3 of IAP deaths from acute lower respiratory
infections in children occur in African and South East Asian
Regions.Women are in charge of cooking and - depending on the
demands of the local cuisine - they spend 3-7 hours/day near the
stove, preparing food. 59% of all IAP-attributable deaths fall on
females.Young children are often carried on their mother's back
or kept close to the warm hearth. Infants spend many hours
breathing indoor smoke during their first year of life when their
developing airways make them vulnerable to pollutants. 56% of
all IAP-attributable deaths occur in children under 5 years of age.
Indoor air pollution (IAP)

23. Prevention of AP effects
• Use of alternative energy sources
• Transfer from internal combustion engine vehicles to
hybrid engine vehicles
• Rational land use, prevention of erosion of land
• Development of forestry
• Clearing of industrial lets
• Transfer from coal at households to gas or kerosene
• Change of households energy habits
• Health programmes on prevention of lung diseases