What is Smog?
Smog is derived from the combination of two words: smoke and fog, and it generally encompasses the merging of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds as well as fine particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10. Smog has serious impacts on human health, health, and the environment. Most of these pollutants react with sunlight to form ground-level ozone which is prejudicial to both health and the environment. While natural fog is harmless to human beings, smog has toxic particulate matter that remains in the air, and when inhaled they are dangerous.
Health Impacts of Smog
Smog has serious health implications for people. Smog is a particulate matter that includes fine particles that easily get into the lungs and bloodstream causing many diseases.
- Respiratory Problems: Air pollution particularly smog poses a health risk, for instance, it will cause worsening of cases of asthma, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). PM2.5 interferes with lung tissue; and affects breathing, causing shortness of breath, wheezing, and chronic coughing in children and the elderly.
- Cardiovascular Health: The research infers that smog raises the hazards of having a heart attack or a stroke. A possibility of polluted air particles penetrating the bloodstream and how they influence cardiovascular health due to inflammations. This is mainly due to the impacts of long-term radiation which often results in the weakening of the heart and circulation system hence resulting in chronic health.
- Eye and Skin Irritation: The third effect of smog is on eyes and skin where smog causes irritation, dryness, and even allergy. These pollutant gases can come into contact with the skin layer and cause skin rashes and some other skin related diseases, while the smog causes redness, watering, and itching of the eyes.
- Mental and Emotional Health: Staying in such an environment, there are high risk of developing mental issues. The results of other research have suggested that people who live in areas with high levels of air pollution are exposed to greater risks of anxiety, depression, and stress. Consistent exposure to smog also results in making residents feel choked with life and thus it hampers the health or psychological well-being of an individual.
Economic and Environmental Impacts
The smog emergency not only threatens people’s well-being but also has severe social and economic repercussions and harms the environment.
- Economic Burden: As the smog health deteriorates bringing about respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, health care costs rise as more people turn to hospitals for treatment. Also, the smog costs the economy by creating sick days through, cases of illnesses resulting from inhaling the smog.
- Environmental Degradation: Pollution, specifically smog, is detrimental to biophysical neighborhoods affecting both vegetation and animals. The small particulate pollen-like spores can deposit on plant tissues thus reducing the amount of light received by the plant thus slowing growth. Further, smog leads to acid rain which is also fatal to soil, water systems, and ecosystems.
