Given below is a representation of a type of pollution. Study the picture (factories and vehicles emitting smoke, with a person coughing) and answer the questions: Given below is a representation of a type of pollution. Study the picture (factories and vehicles emitting smoke, with a person coughing) and answer the questions:
How does this pollution affect human health?
Topic: Effects of air pollution on health
Answer
It causes RESPIRATORY DISORDERS — difficulty in breathing, asthma, bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs, coughing, sneezing and wheezing. It irritates the eyes and causes allergies, reduces visibility, and the toxic chemicals entering the food chain can damage the liver, kidneys, lungs and hormonal balance.
The RESPIRATORY effects are the obvious ones and must come first, since the pollutants are inhaled.
Adding a SECOND KIND of harm strengthens the answer — eye irritation, or the entry of toxic chemicals into the food chain and their effect on internal organs.
WORTH KNOWING for a fuller answer: CARBON MONOXIDE binds to haemoglobin 200-300 times more readily than oxygen, so the tissues are starved of oxygen — the mechanism the 2019 and 2024 papers ask about directly.
Children and the elderly are worst affected, and long exposure to particulate matter is linked to lung cancer.