Billions of Air Pollution Particles Found in Hearts of City Dwellers (theguardian.com) 56
The hearts of young city dwellers contain billions of toxic air pollution particles, research has revealed. The Guardian: Even in the study's youngest subject, who was three, damage could be seen in the cells of the organ's critical pumping muscles that contained the tiny particles. The study suggests these iron-rich particles, produced by vehicles and industry, could be the underlying cause of the long-established statistical link between dirty air and heart disease. The scientists said the abundance of the nanoparticles might represent a serious public health concern and that particle air pollution must be reduced urgently. More than 90% of the world's population lives with toxic air, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the issue a global "public health emergency."
The scientists acknowledged some uncertainties in their research, but Prof Barbara Maher, of Lancaster University, said: "This is a preliminary study in a way, but the findings and implications were too important not to get the information out there." Maher and colleagues found in 2016 that the same nanoparticles were present in human brains and were associated with Alzheimers-like damage, another disease linked to air pollution. While all ages were affected, Maher said she was particularly concerned about children.
The scientists acknowledged some uncertainties in their research, but Prof Barbara Maher, of Lancaster University, said: "This is a preliminary study in a way, but the findings and implications were too important not to get the information out there." Maher and colleagues found in 2016 that the same nanoparticles were present in human brains and were associated with Alzheimers-like damage, another disease linked to air pollution. While all ages were affected, Maher said she was particularly concerned about children.
So important to get the information out... (Score:2)
...that they published it in a fucking paywalled for-profit journal.
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Seriously, in many western cities the air has become much cleaner in the past 40 years. Much, much cleaner. Of course now we’re worrying about ultrafine particulate matter that stays in our lungs for millennia, but it’s all a great many ifs, maybies and mights. Looking at life expectancy and life-shortening diseases, the one thing we can tell for sure is that this pollution does not constitute an immediate health crisis. There m
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That's interesting, doctor. Care to comment what's specifically wrong with this paper? Or did you write your own that we can find somewhere?
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They are "nanoparticles". So if each is a nanometer in diameter, then a billion of them would total to about a cubic micrometer, which is a speck far too small to see.
A billion people, each with a billion nanoparticles, would have a combined total of a single cubic millimeter of pollution in their heart tissue.
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Wouldn't want to see my innards.... (Score:3)
My father is a retired auto mechanic and I spent many summers and afternoons helping him when I was not in school. Cleaning parts with compressed air, starting up and running vehicles, cleaning brake dust off parts (surprised I don't have mesothelioma by now!), etc, etc.
Don't do it anymore, but inhaled a lot of crud over the years and so far no breathing issues. Just too damn fat and run out of energy too quick. More exercise should help that, tho.
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My father is a retired auto mechanic and I spent many summers and afternoons helping him when I was not in school. Cleaning parts with compressed air, starting up and running vehicles, cleaning brake dust off parts (surprised I don't have mesothelioma by now!), etc, etc.
Don't do it anymore, but inhaled a lot of crud over the years and so far no breathing issues. Just too damn fat and run out of energy too quick. More exercise should help that, tho.
I don't have breathing issues, but my father does (COPD), but then again, he is 87 years old and still pretty active compared to others around here his age.
In Soviet Russia (Score:2, Funny)
You leave San Francisco in heart!
I can believe it. (Score:2, Troll)
I'm broke thanks to a kid in college so I drive an old car, and it never ceases to amaze and terrify me that I pass emissions testing in it every year.
Maybe we're all fucked (Score:2)
It's free to dump into the air (Score:5, Insightful)
Libertarian's have the right idea about pollution (Score:2, Interesting)
Absurd (Score:5, Insightful)
That's absurdly impractical. It's nearly impossible to prove, and would cost hundreds of thousands to litigate. Lawsuits are not the answer to all of society's ills. Air pollution is best handled by (big) governments. That's why we have governments: to handle problems that can't be solved in the private sector.
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What they're ignoring is that few have the resources to mount such a lawsuit. Most who do are exactly the ones that would need to be sued, not the ones with cause to sue.
That seems unlikely to change, and in any event, the civil court process handling things piecemeal is about the most expensive way we could do it.
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How, exactly, do you figure out which business actually fucked up your air? Because there are many, and all of them can point to each other.
Libertarianism is a fantasy from people who've never faced real problems in the real world.
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How on earth would that work in your ideal system? Who has standing to sue? Would they have to wait until they get sick/die, and if not how would they determine damages? How are they going to prove it was Company X dumping waste and not Company Y. What if it's literally cheaper to pump poison air into poor neighborhoods than treat it properly? What if the people dumping don't care about going out of business in 10 years, cause they won't be working at said
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Libertarian's have the right idea about pollution
No they don't.
You fuck up my air, I sue you out of business. That's the idea anyway.
There's no universe where that's a sensible idea at all. If you fuck up my heart so what if I can sue you out of business? My heart is fucked and that isn't fixable. This is only a sensible idea if you assume humans are incapable of figuring stuff out before it happens and incapable of forward planning.
Oh that and that poor people don't deserve any protection because they ca
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I tend to want to believe... (Score:2)
These simpler solutions, to the whole "why do we get these diseases in larger percentages now", make a whole lot of sense to me. Diseases, because of a whole bunch of stuff that shouldn't be there, seems plausible on the face of it.
The solution? Clean Air and Water.
The problem? Some people say its too expensive when you price it in. We can't even get people to agree on health insurance for the living much less "save the planet" stuff for the future.
It seems the reality is we are trading years on peop
Moral of the story (Score:5, Insightful)
From FTA:
Moral of the story: don't live in a polluted city.
Also, don't live within 1/4 mile of a major highway [lung.org].
In California, dirty air costs up to $1,600 per person per year in health care bills, lost income, and so on. Let's charge that to polluters including heavy-duty diesel trucks. Then maybe they'll switch to electric or move more freight by rail which is three times more fuel-efficient [uprr.com], doesn't tear up the roads [archive.org], and doesn't cause traffic congestion.
Who would have imagined (Score:2)
People living in close proximity to one another who are exposed to copious amounts of numerous pollutants thrust into the air by cars, trucks, buses, and other vehicles on a daily basis for years might have lung problems.
It's almost as if living outside of a city, with separation between people and open space available, is somehow a more healthy environment.
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Living in a city isn't the problem. Allowing continuous pollution out of convenience is. Gasoline powered vehicles ought have never been manufactured and sold in this great an amount.
jesus fucking christ - this is the fucking end (Score:1)
On hot days this summer, i've been opening my window. Occasionally my chest will feel choked up, and i feel like i'm not getting enough oxygen. Even though i'm high up, there's been fucking construction going on near me for two years. This has got to be the explanation.
That's it, I'm done. Quitting my job in finance and moving someplace rural where just breathing the fucking air won't damage my heart. I suggest you buy a gun and join me West of the Mississippi.
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more likely vehicular exhaust rather than construction doing to that your cardiovascular system but if you can move where the air is cleaner that'd be helpful
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Quitting my job in finance and moving someplace rural where just breathing the fucking air won't damage my heart.
That sounds like a good idea. Finance is well paid so you should have plenty of money to continue the rest of your life not being so well paid. Plus then you won't be in finance either.
I suggest you buy a gun and join me West of the Mississippi.
Why a gun? IIUC, the second amendment is a right, not an obligation.
Well known fact (Score:2)
Were they ever absent? (Score:1)
I'm sure from the industrial revolution onwards the air was at least as smokey as now, or more. And before that, people (at least in cooler climes) used to live indoors with wood fires with the smoke filtering out through a thatched roof. I suspect if we could assay corpses from back then, we'd find at least as many nanoparticles in their cells as now.
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I'm sure from the industrial revolution onwards the air was at least as smokey as now, or more.
Much more, people were dying in droves in London, the great smog of 1952 killed 8000 people. So yes it was worse but it's still pretty bad.