Air pollution pertains to substances and gases in the air that threaten health and life. Among these are pollutants and irritants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide; particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), toxic substances and some natural substances, like pollen. But most of the pollution comes from the by-products of industrialization - fossil fuel combustion, transportation, transportation, power plant emissions and those from other industrial processes. The burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity alone is the greatest source of air pollution in the U.S.A. These outdoor pollutants can undermine health and cause environmental disturbances, such as acid rain, and are toxic.
Studies show that we now spend more than 90% of our lives inside buildings and other constructed environments. Because of this, such structures - including homes and office buildings - are constructed with energy efficiency and comfort foremost in mind. The installation of central heating, cooling systems, the reduction of heat to the minimum and air-tightness has been the standard practice (Heimlich). Through the years, this practice and trends have led to the use of complex materials for furniture, fabrics, cleaners, detergents, detergents and preservatives, as well as to foreign proteins, dust, and gases.
The 1976 outbreak of the Legionnaire's Disease in a hotel in Philadelphia sounded the alarm when 182 pneumonia cases and 29 deaths from a still-unknown bacterium at the time (later called Legionella pneumophilia) were reported. Investigations led to the ventilation and humidification system of the hotel, which in turn, resulted in the recognition of an epidemic of illnesses connected with building conditions.
Since then, health workers began to receive increasing numbers of complaints of headaches and allergic reactions to some unknown stimuli. The reactions included lethargy, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, irritation of the mucous membrane, irritation of the eyes or nose and pharynx and sensitivity to odors. It was discovered, after many years of investigation, that these reactions occurred when those affected were inside certain buildings and disappeared when they left those buildings. These specific and non-specific complaints, when were linked to a particular building, therefore, came to be known as the "sick building syndrome." More importantly, it has been noted that one type alone of indoor pollutants - volatile organic compounds or VOCs -- can make indoor air 10 times more hazardous than outdoor air. This must be realized with the fact that virtually all American children aged 6 and older are in school and younger ones in day-care, more than 50% of adult workers in North America alone and Western Europe are in engaged in white-collar jobs" and working all day long in indoor office settings. And retirees are likewise indoors (Oliver and Shackleton).
Indoor sources of contamination that make up the syndrome have been classified into major combustion pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide), biological air pollutants (among them, molds, dust mites and dander), VOCs (gases like formaldehyde, pesticides, solves, cleaning agents, benzene and perchloroethyllene) and heavy metals (lead and mercury, although these have been on the wane recently).
Symptoms involved in the "sick building syndrome" are many and varied, as well as affecting many of the body's systems. Physical and laboratory findings were inconclusive, but these were resolved upon leaving the building and reoccurred with reentry. It took much time before management and medical personnel could identify the problem and the cause. Many factors were occurring at the same time. In the meantime, common complaints observed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in investigating 529 buildings were listed as "eye irritation, dry throat, headache, fatigue, sinus congestion, skin irritation, shortness of breath, cough, dizziness, nausea, sneezing and nasal irritation (Oliver and Shackleton).
II. MVOCs as Indoor Pollutants and Their Impact on Human Beings.
It was in the last two decades when the significance of indoor air pollution was winning recognition along with asthma as a serious health hazard that a connection was established. Risks for asthma were identified as to include indoor air contaminants, such as house dust mites, cockroach allergens, molds, other fungi and tobacco smoke. Asthma cases kept increasing and particularly disturbing in children and young adults. Both self-reported and asthma-related hospital admissions increased. Hospitalization with asthma as the principal diagnosis went up from 1979 to 1994, conditioned by age and gender.
Investigations in the last decade pointed to microorganisms as the primary...
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