AIR POLLUTION AFFECTS OUR VITAL ORGANS – Consumers Association Penang

From smog hanging over cities to smoke inside the home, air pollution poses a major threat to health and climate across the globe. Air pollution is the presence of one or more contaminants in the atmosphere, such as dust, fumes, gas, mist, odour, smoke or vapour, in quantities and duration that can be injurious to human health.

The main pathway of exposure from air pollution is through the respiratory tract. Breathing in these pollutants leads to inflammation, oxidative stress, immunosuppression, and mutagenicity in cells throughout our body, impacting the lungs, heart, brain among other organs and ultimately leading to disease.

Almost every organ in the body can be impacted by air pollution. Due to their small size, some air pollutants are able to penetrate into the bloodstream via the lungs and circulate throughout the entire body leading to systemic inflammation and carcinogenicity.

Air pollution in the form of fine particulate matter or PM2.5, can lead to:

strokes
diabetes
heart diseases
lung cancer
respiratory diseases

There is suggestive evidence also linking air pollution exposure with increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes (i.e. low-birth weight, small for gestational age), other cancers, cognitive impairment and neurological diseases.

Although there are many toxins that have adverse impacts on health, pollutants with the strongest evidence for public health concern include particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Fine particulate matter are an especially important source of health risks, as these very small particles can penetrate deep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream, and travel to organs causing systemic damages to tissues and cells.

Source: WHO

Full article here:
https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/air-quality-energy-and-health/health-impacts