Cancer Villages : Living Of A Death Sentence

Pollution continues to pose an enormous threat to residents of urban cities worldwide. In the August 2008 Monthly Update, it is stated that approximately 800,000 deaths each year can be attributed to outdoor air pollution, making pollution the single most harmful environmental hazard to human health in urban areas (Kallman). The fact that pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people each year alone portrays just how dangerous living in these conditions can be. Kallman writes about a study which proves an increase in upper respiratory diseases, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, and low birth weights when exposed to air pollutants (August 2008: Monthly Update). These can be very serious diseases and complications which, when contracted, can lead to death or very serious illnesses. There

As the exploration of the industrial development and increased speed of the urban sprawl in Beijing, many severe environmental issues attribute mainly to the anthropocentric activities have been come out of the scene. One of them is the air pollution. Air pollution has been regarded as the most severe environment issue in China since it has already threatened to physical health, especially for the respiratory tract and lung. “In January 2013, Beijing experienced historical heavy air pollution. In this particular month, very few days were observed with blue sky.” (Lijian Han et.al., 2015) According to the analysis of the driving factors, “the population grew fast, and energy consumption and the number of vehicles increased rapidly” (Ju Zhang et.al., 2010), these factors add together can make the air quality worse than any one of them separately can. Firstly, it has been an undoubted truth that more and more people originally lived in rural has been moved to core urban of Beijing since there are more opportunities in there. Therefore, the huge explosion of urban population with more energy release and more CO2 exhalation is seen as an inevitably primary factor causing the bad air quality. What’s more, as the population

Air pollution by definition, is the presence in or introduction into the air of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. Beijing is a major Chinese city that endures air pollution significantly. A study on the global burden of disease found that outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China each year (Chemical & Engineering News,2017). As China is the world's second largest economy behind the United States, it is most definitely under the influence of globalization. Globalization causes industrialization, a process that will inevitably create pollution.70% of air pollution in China is from the tailpipes of automobiles (Conserve Energy Future, 2017). Thus, the introduction of advanced transportation brought by globalization has adversely affected China's atmosphere.

Air pollution is specifically dangerous because of the effects in can have on a person’s health. There is an unknown when referring to the health effects because the toxins released from various substances can be different. The most common form of air pollutants is carbon monoxide (CO) which is typically produced from vehicles and factories. Huge cities in the United Sates, such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are some of the primary contributors to these toxic releases. The American Lung association claims that “about 47 percent of Americans live in counties with frequently unhealthy levels of either ozone or particulate pollution” (Roppolo). This suggest that the daily activities of the average American, causes them to live in polluted areas. If you compare this to the rate of population growth, it can be said that this number would

According to the EPA pollution recommendations, when a city reaches an air quality index (AQI) of over 400, all people should avoid going outdoors. Beijing’s highest AQI is 895. This impacts the daily lives of Beijing citizens immensely. Air pollution has been related to increased cases of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other respiratory illnesses. It is also associated with asthma in children.

In the past decade, the severe air pollution problem in fast developing countries, particularly in China, has caused highly social and scientific attention. In 2014, 92 % of the world population are exposed over to the WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) PM2.5 concentration level of 10 μg/m3 (World Health Organization, 2016). Ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution ranked as the third leading risk factor in India and Nepal, and ranked as the fifth in China (GBD 2015 Risk Factors Collaborators, 2016). In 2012, about 3 million deaths globally were attributed solely to ambient air pollution, and around 87% of it occurred in low- and middle-income countries (World Health Organization, 2016).

According to history of China, water consumption, growing population and demand for higher living standards were increasing steadily since the 1950s, when industrial development of the country started. In theory that could lead to new economic era and growth of the country, but in practice that caused one of the most important environmental problems in China. First of all, the pollution of water resources in this country goes deep into history in the 1970s. According to Wang (1989), the situation hasn’t changed for the better and the rate of pollution increased rapidly. Even nowadays the government of China cannot tackle

As mentioned in Diamond’s book, Collapse, China has been facing and is still facing air pollution and environmental damages. The air pollution crisis in China is caused mainly by their large economic boom causing more factories, vehicles, and overpopulation (Clark, et al.). “Pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide are rising due to the increasing numbers of motor vehicles and the coal- dominated energy generation” (Diamond 363). Because of the immediate effects of air pollution such as the smog that is visible to citizens in China, many citizens wear face masks every day to protect themselves and their health. Diamond also mentions the fact that because China has the worst environmental damages such as air pollution, this might affect the rest of the world.

Paragraph: Also, air pollutants in the form of particulate matter is harmful to our health. Short-term effects like irritation to the eyes, nose and throat and long-term health effects like lung cancer, heart disease are all possible results. The continual exposure to air pollution can affect the lungs of children and complicate medical conditions in the elderly. Even worse, it can cause the brain damage of growing kids or deaths.

Moreover, acute health effects were observed at levels common in many us cites such as Los Angeles, as well as, below current U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Overall these studies shown respiratory effect increase parallel with pollution levels, with a near linear dose-response

Epidemiologic studies have determined that the following are the major air pollutants contributing to respiratory diseases: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matter (PM) less than 10 mm and less than 2. 5 mm in diameter (PM10 and PM2.5, respectively) (Baldi et al., 1999; Chew et al., 1999; McConnell et al., 1999; McDonnell et al., 1999; Neukirch et al., 1998; Ostro et al., 1998; Sheppard et al., 1999; Taggart et al., 1996). Particulate matter is the product of solid and liquid particles being directly emitted into the air from such things as diesel engine soot, road and agricultural dust, and manufacturing processes, while SO2, NO2, and O3, are predominately byproducts of fuel combustion.

One of China’s best successes has in turn been one of its biggest downfalls. One of the main problems is China’s greatest success which has been its phenomenal economic growth. This is one of the main drivers of the current environmental problems that the country faces. Factories dump pollutants into the air and water. It is difficult to see the Chinese government making the significant sacrifices required to improve their environment if it means slowing down their economic growth.

The World Health Organization estimated that more than 800,000 deaths worldwide were due to outdoor air pollution. Air pollution is a growing issue in industrialized areas due to exposure from industrial and traffic sources. Harm to the human body occurs from exposure to and inhalation of particulate matter (PM) (Barnes et al., 2012). PM is liquid or solid particles in the air, that when small enough in size, can be harmful to the human body when inhaled. Two common sizes of particulate matter are PM_10 and PM_2.5. PM_10 are particles that are 2.5 to 10 micrometers in size, and includes dust, mold and pollen just to name a few. PM_2.5 are particles that are 2.5 micrometers or smaller in size, and consists of particles from vehicles, industries, and burning. Smaller particles are able to get into the lungs and potentially cause serious health problems (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2015). These health problems include acute cardiovascular events, changes to blood pressure, coagulation, myocardial perfusion, and chronic respiratory diseases (Barnes et al., 2012).

This proves that the city is young and productive, which means that the amount of workers and industries are more. Beijing was considered one of the most polluted cities in the world in the mid-1990s. The pollutants were coming from mainly exhaust emissions, specifically 1.4 million motor vehicles, over 5,000 factories and the burning of coal in domestic cooking and heating (Victor F.S. Sit, 115). Currently, the levels of OM2.5 particulates, which are the most hazardous to health, rose to 568 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the US embassy (BBC). PR2.5 particles have a diameter small enough to get into your lungs and are extremely dangerous and effect someone first hand, which is the reason many people wear face masks when going out. Going out without safety precautions such as a mask, may risk asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Around half a million of early deaths are cause by pollution in China, and it also lowers life expectancy due to heart and respiratory diseases

Pollution is a serious global issue that has been occurring for as long as humans have inhabited the planet. There are many different varieties of pollution, as well as an abundance of materials, both natural and synthetic, that the earth has been contaiminated with. Shifrin ( 2005), states: “To date, wastes remain a fact of life and there are only three places to dispose of wastes-air, water, or land. Waste management always involves tradeoffs.” (p. 676). Even though Shifrin is correct in his analysis, it does not excuse the amount of environmental poison that continues to exist today, nor the amount of environmental problems that it has caused throughout history. The “tradeoffs” of pollution have devastated entire communities, causing waves of sickness and death in their wake. According to Shifrin (2005):” Water-borne contagious disease still caused devastating epidemics in the early 1900s, compounded by growing, congested populations. Air pollution also grew to a high priority by midcentury because its impact was so observable and immediate.” (p. 676). Generally, these diseases were spread through poor sanitary practices as well as the overwhelming volume of pollution that was generated by so many indivduals with little knowledge about what the adverse effects on the overall environment would be.