Health, Microbes, and More
Meteorologists are predicting that we (in the US and Canada) will be experiencing more hazardous air quality days in the coming months and years due to wildfire smoke. An excellent resource for monitoring the air quality where you live is AirNow.gov. It has both current air quality and forecasts. The NY Times currently has interactive ...continue reading "Great Resource For Learning About Your Air Quality"
Finally, finally... the FAA just approved an unleaded fuel for small aircraft. Yup, for all these years that other vehicles had switched to unleaded gas, small aircraft had no unleaded alternative. (Jet aircraft used for commercial transport do not use fuel containing lead.) Unleaded gas was introduced in the United States in the 1970s, and ...continue reading "Small Airplanes Will Finally Use Unleaded Fuel"
Today is Earth Day, a good day to reflect on the state of the Earth. Our home. Think about the tremendous amount of air pollution in the air we breathe, of which two pollutants of concern are ozone and fine particulate matter. The American Lung Association released its annual State of the Air 2021 report. ...continue reading "Our Air Is Not So Good"
It turns out that there is another serious source of air pollution in cities that is not usually mentioned - the emissions from roof and road asphalt, especially on hot and sunny days. Yale University researchers found that asphalt emits a complex mixture of compounds, including hazardous pollutants. The emissions really increase as temperature increases, ...continue reading "Asphalt In City Streets and Roofs Emits Air Pollutants"
The last few years has seen a loosening of all sorts environmental rules here in the United States, including air pollution. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is not looking out for ordinary people, but doing its best to be as accommodating as possible to big industry. Pollution standards and rules are going backwards! A lot. ...continue reading "You Can Easily Measure the Air Quality Around You"
Once again research is finding effects on health from nanoparticles and air pollution - this time the heart. Tiny air pollution particles less than 100 nm (nanometers) in size are typically called "ultrafine particles", but actually they are so small that they are nanoparticles. They are NOT regulated in the United States, even though many researchers ...continue reading "Pollution Nanoparticles Found In Human Hearts"
The prestigious medical journal The Lancet recently released a report by its Commission On Pollution and Health on the effects of various types of pollution (water, air, occupational, chemical, etc) on people and world economies - that is, the effect of pollution on "global health". The main finding: Diseases caused by pollution were responsible in 2015 for ...continue reading "Pollution and Early Death"
This post is more on the theme of nanoparticles and human health. My last post was about a study that examined how inhaled nanoparticles (for example, from air pollution) travel from the lungs to the bloodstream. Well, today's post is about a pretty shocking 2016 air pollution nanoparticle study which examined the brains (brain tissue) of ...continue reading "Pollution Nanoparticles Found in Human Brains"
Did you ever wonder about all the consumer products that have fragrances in them and whether they are safe to use? Think of all the fragrances in personal care products and perfumes, in air fresheners, scented soaps, cleaning products, scented candles, even laundry detergents, and scented dryer sheets. Fragrances are made up of many synthetic chemicals - with ...continue reading "Health Reasons to Avoid Fragrances, Air Fresheners, Dryer Sheets"
When we think about air pollution, we usually think about pollutants in the air that we breathe in. But there is a growing body of evidence that some pollutants found in the air, including a group of chemicals called phthalates, can be absorbed directly through the skin (dermal absorption or dermal intake). A recent study has ...continue reading "We Are Absorbing Some Air Pollutants Through Our Skin"