Impact of environmental pollution on human health. Impact of environmental pollution on human health
AT modern world influence environment on human health has become global problem requiring drastic measures. There is a lot of talk these days about conservation and water resources but little is being done. The decrease in soil fertility, the death of representatives of flora and fauna, the deterioration of air quality, and the pollution of freshwater lakes and rivers are still continuing.
Main types of pollution
Consider the most common types of pollution. The most common are permanent release of chemicals industrial enterprises, automobiles, boiler houses. Volume growth carbon dioxide leads to a gradual increase in temperature on our planet. This is urgent problem of modern humanity.
The oceans are suffering from human activities in the oil refining industry. Territories located near oil fields are subjected to disastrous exposure to industrial waste. This leads to disruption of gas exchange between the hydrosphere and.
The most dangerous is radiation. The radiation catastrophe has irreversible consequences: the development of genetic diseases, oncology, neurological diseases, early aging.
We have briefly outlined the main sources representing danger to life that adversely affect human health.
Reasons for the deterioration
Ecology studies interaction of living beings and plants with the environment and results human activity. How does it affect our health? Environmental pollution and human health are closely interrelated.
Air
How is it happening atmospheric influence on the human body? It changes every season and every day - temperature regime, pressure, humidity. A healthy body quickly gets used to and adapts to change. But there are categories of patients and weather sensitive people whose organisms have difficulty adapting to weather changes, various cataclysms, so they do not feel well with sudden changes in temperature, jumps atmospheric pressure.
When pollutants enter the atmosphere, air pollution. Many substances, coming into contact with other natural elements, are modified, becoming even more dangerous. The most common outcomes of this process are ozone holes, acid rain, greenhouse effect and smog. According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2014, the reason for the annual death and almost 3.8 million people becomes precisely air pollution. The total number of people who died due to inhalation of contaminated air in open and enclosed spaces reached the 7 million mark. Don't forget the impact negative ecology on the development of cancer. According to WHO studies, air pollution is the main cause of cancer.
Important! If you want to protect yourself from undesirable effects in your own home and on the street, review daily reports on the state of the ambient air in your city. Based on the received data, take measures for protection.
The soil
Soil is an invaluable resource that gives a person a chance to exist. main reason soil pollution becomes the man himself. It is estimated that over the past hundred years, approximately 28% of all fertile soils on the planet have been eroded. Every year, a large part of the land is lost fertile layer turning into a desert. affects health, because all the food we eat is grown on earth. Lead, cadmium, mercury, and sometimes even cyanides (compounds of arsenic and beryllium) can be found in modern food. These substances have one dangerous property - they are not excreted from the body.
Important! The impact of unfavorable ecology on a person can increase many times if the body lacks vitamins A, B and C.
Special attention should be paid to agriculture. To control weeds and pests, farmers use pesticides, which fall first into the soil, and then into food. fertilizers are divided into several types:
- herbicides- serve to destroy harmful plants;
- insecticides- used to control insects;
- fungicides- used against fungal formations;
- zoocides- Created to control animal pests.
All of them are found in food in certain quantities. You see how closely connected nature and human health.
arable land are most susceptible to degradation, and repeated grazing of animals in one area leads to the destruction of the grass cover, which is especially noticeable after sheep grazing. Irrigation of the land also causes negative impacts, leading to its salinization.
Surface and ground water
It has been established that more than 400 types of various substances can cause water pollution. To find out if water is drinkable, it is subjected to special processing. It goes through three stages: sanitary-toxicological, general sanitary and organoleptic. If at least one indicator is exceeded, the water is considered polluted.
Water pollution divided into three types:
- chemical ( oil and products of its processing, dioxins, pesticides, heavy);
- biological(contains viruses and other pathogens);
- physical(radioactive substances,).
The most common types of water pollution are the first two types. Relatively less common are radioactive, thermal and mechanical.
The process itself surface and groundwater , including drinking, is due to various factors. The main ones include:
- leakage of oil and oil products;
- ingress of pesticides from fields into water systems;
- gas-smoke and dust emissions;
- discharge into water systems of sewer water.
Exist natural sources of pollution. They include highly mineralized underground and sea waters, which are introduced into fresh water due to improper operation of water intake facilities.
The value of ecology
Ecology affects health on a daily basis. Environmental issues are inextricably linked to our everyday life. The food we eat, the water we drink and the one we breathe depend on the state of the environment.
Impact polluted air is a real problem in big cities. The air of large industrial cities contains a huge concentration chemical substances which contributes to the development of various diseases, including cancer. Pathology of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, gastrointestinal tract, blood, allergic and endocrine diseases - these are the consequences of the influence environment for development pathogenic microflora, degenerative and other changes.
Important! During pregnancy, the fetus is very sensitive to all external pathogens. Environmental factors play an important role in shaping a child's health.
Plant food and water, which we consume daily, are taken from the soil. Nowadays, almost every farm uses fertilizers, growth stimulants, pest control products. All this comes to our table. If the transmission of harmful substances does not occur directly, then through products animal origin- meat, milk As a result - a variety of diseases of the digestive system, a decrease in the protective functions of the body, a deterioration in the absorption nutrients, toxic effects on the body and early aging.
The main problem - pollution drinking water that adversely affect human health. Territories where there is a persistent deterioration in the quality of drinking water tend to increased infection of the gastrointestinal tract. Statistics say that the share of deaths due to viruses entering the body accounts for 30 to 50 million cases in Russia.
Today, people are constantly faced with ionizing radiation. Mining, air travel, nuclear explosions and the release of processed radioactive substances lead to a change in the radiation background of the external environment. The effect depends on the time, dose and type of exposure. How does radiation affect a person? Most often, the consequence is the development of infertility, radiation sickness, burns, cataracts - disorders of the organs of vision.
Environmental risks
One of the main indicators of quality public health is environmental risk. But the main problem is not the degree of this indicator, but the fact that when it affects a person, the consequences appear only after 2-3 generations, gradually affecting the human body. Therefore, most people do not think about it, because they do not feel a direct threat.
Diseases are mainly dependent on age, profession and gender. AT risk group people get after reaching 50-60 years. The most healthy are men aged 20 to 30 years, girls - up to 20. An important role is played by the area of residence. In places with increased environmental risk, the population gets sick 30% more often.
Patterns of the action of environmental factors on organisms
Examples of environmental pollution
Conclusion
As we can see, the impact of an unfavorable environment on human health can lead to disastrous consequences, even death. Unfortunately, creating unfavorable and often destructive conditions of existence is inherent in one person. It is time for us to think about this global problem for the sake of our own well-being.
The environment is the totality of everything that is around a person during his life. It consists of natural components such as earth, air, water, solar radiation, and technogenic, which include all manifestations of human civilization. The health of the human body is directly or indirectly affected by a variety of properties and qualities of all environmental environmental factors. About this, about the influence of environmental factors on human health, we are with the editors of the site www..
Let's consider the most important of them:
1. climatic factors
Influence on well-being and normal performance of a person is exerted by weather. With this in our time, no one will argue. For example, if the air temperature has dropped significantly, you need to protect the body from hypothermia. Without doing this, a person risks getting sick with acute respiratory diseases.
Environmental factors such as changes in atmospheric pressure, air humidity, electromagnetic field of the planet, precipitation in the form of rain or snow, movement of atmospheric fronts, cyclones, gusts of wind - lead to a change in well-being.
They can cause headaches, exacerbation of diseases of the joints, drops in blood pressure. But weather changes have an ambiguous effect on different people. If a person is healthy, then his body will quickly adjust to new climatic conditions and unpleasant sensations will bypass him. A sick or weakened human body has a impaired ability to quickly adjust to changes in the weather, so it suffers from general malaise and pain.
Conclusion - try to maintain the state of health at the proper level, respond in a timely manner to changes in the environment and climatic factors won't make you uncomfortable. To acclimatize the body, do exercises daily, walk for an hour, observe the daily routine.
2. Chemical and biological factors
Technogenic activities of people lead to an increase in emissions of production waste into the environment. Chemical compounds from waste enter the soil, air and water spaces, and then, through the use of contaminated food and water, inhalation of air saturated with harmful elements, they enter the body. As a result, all human organs, including the brain, contain several milligrams of poisons that poison life. Exposure to toxic substances can cause nausea, coughing, and dizziness. If they regularly get inside, then the development of chronic poisoning is possible. Its signs: fast fatiguability, constant fatigue, insomnia or drowsiness, apathy, frequent mood swings, impaired attention, psychomotor reactions. If you suspect signs of chronic poisoning, you should undergo a medical examination and take action, and possibly even change your place of residence if this threatens your life and health.
3. Food
Eating is one of the basic instincts of the body. The intake of nutrients necessary for normal life comes from the external environment. The health of the body largely depends on the quality and quantity of food. Medical studies have shown that for the optimal course of physiological processes, a necessary condition is a rational, nutritious diet. The body daily needs a certain amount of protein compounds, carbohydrates, fats, trace elements and vitamins. In the case when nutrition is inadequate, irrational - conditions arise for the development of diseases of the heart - vascular system, digestive canals, violation of metabolic processes.
For example, constant overeating of foods rich in carbohydrates and fats can cause obesity, diabetes, vascular and cardiac muscle diseases.
The use of genetically modified organisms and products containing elevated concentrations harmful substances, leading to deterioration general condition health and development a wide range diseases. But all this comes to a person precisely from the environment, so be vigilant when choosing food!
Of course, this review is not at all complete, and one can write a weighty volume about the influence of each of the listed and not listed environmental factors on a person ... but, unfortunately, the framework of the informational article does not allow this. But this is not the main thing, the main thing is that as many people as possible be puzzled by these problems - which I hope for!
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Impact of environmental pollution on human health.
General characteristics. The quality of the environment significantly affects the health of the population. Almost all chemical substances and physical radiation, to one degree or another, have a harmful effect on human health, and the level of their presence in the environment is important here (concentration of a substance, dose of radiation received, etc.). In case of adverse effects, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects are of paramount importance. The impact of pollution on the childbearing function and health of children is dangerous. For a large number chemicals are characterized by an effect on the metabolic, immune and other systems that perform protective functions organism; their change contributes to the development of non-communicable diseases, a large share which account for cardiovascular and oncological diseases.
As evidenced by experimental and epidemiological studies, environmental factors, even at a low level of impact, can cause significant health problems for people. Environmental pollution, despite relatively low concentrations of substances, due to the long duration of exposure (almost throughout a person's life) can lead to serious health problems, especially for such fragile groups as children, the elderly, patients with chronic diseases, pregnant women.
The most dangerous environmental pollutants. Large volumes of various chemicals, biological agents released into the environment with a low level of control of industrial, agricultural, household and other pollutants do not allow us to establish clearly enough the measure of the health hazard of technogenic pollutants contained in the atmospheric air or soil, drinking water or food.
The most dangerous and toxic heavy metals are cadmium, mercury and lead. A relationship has been established between the amount of cadmium, lead, arsenic found in water and soil and the incidence of malignant neoplasms. various forms among the population of ecologically disadvantaged areas.
Cadmium contamination of foodstuffs usually occurs due to contamination of soil and drinking water from sewage and other industrial wastes, as well as from the use phosphate fertilizers and pesticides. In the air rural areas the concentration of cadmium is 10 times higher than the levels of the natural background, and in an urban environment the standards can be exceeded up to 100 times. Most of the cadmium a person receives from plant foods.
Mercury, as another heavy metal biocide, has two types of circuits in nature. The first is associated with the natural exchange of elemental (inorganic) mercury, the second, the so-called local, is due to the processes of methylation of inorganic mercury entering the environment as a result of economic activity person. Mercury is used in the production of caustic soda, paper pulp, the synthesis of plastics, and in the electrical industry. Wide application mercury has as a fungicide for dressing seed. Every year, up to 80 thousand tons of mercury in the form of vapors and aerosols are released into the atmosphere, from where it and its compounds migrate into the soil and water bodies.
AT modern conditions The main source of environmental pollution with lead compounds is the use of leaded gasoline. Naturally, the highest concentrations of lead are found in the atmospheric air of cities and along major highways. In the future, when included in the food chain, lead can enter the human body with products of both plant and animal origin. Lead can accumulate in the body, especially in bone tissue. There is evidence of the effect of lead on the growth of diseases of the cardiovascular system. Experimental data indicate that the development of cancer in the presence of lead requires 5 times less carcinogenic hydrocarbons.
Drugs, mainly antibiotics, which are widely used in animal husbandry, also pose a great danger to human health. The significance of their contamination of livestock products is associated with an increase in allergic reactions in humans to drugs. Currently, 60 types of antibiotics are used for the needs of agriculture. domestic production. Much more dangerous because possible inclusion pesticides in food chains. Currently, 66 different pesticides are approved for use in agriculture, which, in addition to their specific effect on agricultural pests, have adverse long-term effects of various kinds (carcinogenic, embryotoxic, teratogenic, etc.). According to the US National Academy of Sciences, toxicologists have relatively complete information about the health effects of only 10% of pesticides in use today and 18% of drugs in use. At least 1/3 of pesticides and drugs do not pass any toxicity tests. For all the chemicals used in the world, the problem is even more serious: 80% of them have not passed any tests.
It is well known that nitrates and nitrites are far from harmless to the body. Nitrates used as mineral fertilizers, are found in the highest concentrations in green vegetables, such as spinach, lettuce, sorrel, beets, carrots, cabbage. Especially dangerous are high concentrations of nitrates in drinking water, since when they interact with hemoglobin, its functions as an oxygen carrier are disrupted. There are phenomena of oxygen starvation with signs of shortness of breath, asphyxia. In severe cases, poisoning can be fatal. It has been experimentally proven that nitrates also have mutagenic and embryotoxic effects.
Nitrites are salts nitrous acid, have long been used as a preservative in the manufacture of sausages, ham, canned meat. Another danger of finding nitrites in food products is that in the gastrointestinal tract, under the influence of microflora, nitro compounds with carcinogenic properties are formed from nitrites.
Radionuclides that enter the human body also mainly with food are stable in ecological chains. Of the fission products of uranium, strontium-90 and cesium-137 (having a half-life of about 30 years) are of particular danger: strontium, due to its similarity with calcium, very easily penetrates into bone tissue vertebrates, while cesium accumulates in muscle tissues, replacing potassium. They are able to accumulate in the body in quantities sufficient to cause damage to health, remaining in the infected body for almost its entire life and causing carcinogenic, mutagenic and other diseases.
Features of the impact of atmospheric pollution. The impact of air pollution is varied, ranging from unpleasant odors and ending with an increase in morbidity and mortality, including from cardiovascular diseases. Exposure to atmospheric pollutants most often leads to a weakening of the immune system, which is accompanied by a decrease in the body's resistance and increased morbidity. According to American scientists, in cities with no high level pollution during an influenza epidemic, the average number of diseases increases by 20%, and in cities with a high level - by 200%.
According to Russian researchers (1994), it was found that the degree of impact of atmospheric pollution on the incidence of the population depends on age: the least sensitive is the group of the population aged 20–39 years, and the most sensitive is the group of children aged 3 to 6 years ( 3.3 times) and the age group of the population over 60 years (1.6 times).
Research by the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Hygiene of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences established a relationship between the level of total air pollution and the rates of allergic morbidity in children. Thus, in Moscow, the proportion of children with frequent acute respiratory infections (acute respiratory infections) in very polluted areas was 8%, and in less polluted areas - 1.2%. In Togliatti, children living in the zone of influence of emissions from the Northern Industrial Hub were 2.4–8.8 times more likely to suffer from diseases of the upper respiratory tract, bronchial asthma than children living in a relatively clean area.
In the last decade, the total atmospheric emissions from vehicles have increased significantly, which account for more than 2/3 of the total atmospheric emissions in Russia, and in different cities these emissions account for 45 to 85% of air pollution. As a result, approximately 30% of the country's urban population breathes air in which the concentration of harmful substances exceeds sanitary and hygienic standards by 10 or more times. In general, according to the data of the sanitary and epidemiological service, in 1992 more than 60 million people lived in conditions of constant excess of the MPC in the atmospheric air of a number of harmful substances.
In cities with a developed metallurgical industry, the adult population is more likely to suffer from diseases of the circulatory system (by 1.5 times) and the digestive system (by 1.7), and children are almost 1.5 times more likely to suffer from diseases of the respiratory and digestive organs, as well as skin diseases. and mucous membranes of the eyes. Living in the centers for the placement of the petrochemical industry and organic synthesis leads to an increase in the incidence of children with bronchial asthma (2-3 times) and diseases of the skin and mucous membranes (2 times).
The impact of air pollution on health is most clearly demonstrated by the data of studies conducted in areas where plants for the production of protein-vitamin concentrates (PVC) and microbiological synthesis products are located, where, with a 2–3-fold increase in the overall incidence, an increase in allergic diseases up to 2–12 times was revealed. In the cities of Angarsk and Kirishi, where BVK factories are located, the increase in the incidence has become catastrophic - up to 20-28 times, which has repeatedly led to social tension and demonstrations of the population against the functioning of these industries.
Influence of water pollution. According to the UN, up to 1 million items of previously non-existent products are produced in the world, including up to 100,000 chemical compounds, of which about 15,000 are potential toxicants. According to expert estimates, up to 80% of all chemical compounds entering the external environment sooner or later end up in water sources. It is estimated that more than 420 km3 of wastewater is thrown out annually in the world, which is able to make about 7 thousand km3 of clean water unusable.
The state of water supply of the population of Russia is unsatisfactory. An analysis of the quality of drinking water conducted by the Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Hygiene of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in a number of Russian cities indicates that water quality does not meet hygienic requirements in 80–90% of centralized water supply systems. About 1/3 of the population uses drinking water from decentralized sources, which in 32% of cases also does not meet quality requirements. In general, about 50% of the population of the Russian Federation continues to use drinking water that does not meet sanitary and hygienic standards.
It is known that more than 80% of the water consumed in our country is taken from surface water, the most common pollutants of which are oil products, phenols, hydrocarbons, iron compounds, ammonium nitrogen, heavy metals(cadmium, chromium, zinc, arsenic, mercury, etc.), chlorides, sulfates, nitrates, nitrites, etc.
The existing drinking water quality control system in our country due to insufficient technical support does not allow to fully determine the degree of danger of water pollution for human health. The World Health Organization has recommended water monitoring since 1992 for about 100 indicators, most of which directly affect health. Domestic GOST 2874-82 "Drinking water" contains standards for only 28 indicators.
Danger of accumulation of pollution along trophic chains. As follows from the above, the consumption of contaminated food is accompanied by the accumulation (accumulation) of pollutants along trophic chains in the ecosystem. The phenomenon associated with the relative increase in the concentration of pollutants in organisms as one moves up the food chain is called the biotic accumulation of chemicals in an ecosystem. Thus, pesticides (for example, DDT), radioactive elements, etc. accumulate in the organisms of consumers. An oyster can contain 70,000 times more DDT than in the water where it lives. Ultimately, a person is a super predator in a socio-natural ecosystem, being at the end of the trophic chain, suffers more than other biological organisms (“ecological boomerang effect”).
Below are given as an example the empirical values of the accumulation coefficient of radioactive phosphorus-32 contained in river water the Columbia River due to plutonium reactor waste discharges, according to the conditional food chain:
PHYTOPLANKTON - FISH - MAN.
1 1000 5000
Even greater values of the coefficient of accumulation of radioactive elements are found in the marine environment. For example, according to the measurements of American scientists, the accumulation coefficients in phytoplankton for a number of isotopes: iron-55, lead-210, phosphorus-31 and zinc-65 have values from 20,000 to 40,000. Therefore, food chains in the marine environment can initiate the accumulation of some radioactive elements in quantities significantly exceeding radiation safety standards.
The above estimates of the accumulation factors of chemically and radiation hazardous pollutants in the environment show that even at their low concentrations in environmental components, due to the effect of biotic accumulation along trophic chains, food products (especially of animal origin) may contain substances harmful to health at concentrations significantly higher than the MPC.
On the possible increase in environmental impacts on health. According to WHO experts, data in the 80s. In the twentieth century, the state of health of a modern person is 50% determined by lifestyle, 10% by medicine (although the role of medicine is huge in rescuing the wounded and sick, but unfortunately, it still has little effect on the level of health), 20% by heredity , and the role of environmental factors (quality of the environment) in the state of health is given about 20%. last digit shows that although in the 1980s the impact of environmental pollution on human health was not decisive, it was nevertheless quite noticeable.
The colossal growth in industrial production and the many-fold increase in emissions of pollutants into the environment over the past two decades suggest a significantly increased impact of environmental factors on human health. Forecast estimates of the Irkutsk professor Yu.M. Gorsky, published in his work “Fundamentals of Homeostatics” (see Problems of the Environment and Natural Resources // Overview of VINITI, 2000. N 5), show that the following changes can be expected for the Irkutsk region and a number of other regions of Russia by 2005 : the role of environmental factors will increase to 40%, the effect of the genetic factor - up to 30% (due to negative changes in the genetic apparatus), and the role of lifestyle and medicine in maintaining health will decrease to 25 and 5%, respectively. Even healthy lifestyle life will not be able to stop the processes of deterioration in human health if the nation begins to degenerate. According to WHO estimates, it is known that if damage to the genetic apparatus in newborns reaches 10%, then the degeneration of the nation inevitably begins. According to Yu. Gorsky, there are already several such "environmentally hot spots" in Russia, where the specified limit has been exceeded.
The above estimates require more careful analysis. The pessimistic forecast of the development of a possible scenario of health deterioration in the coming years, considered here, shows that the current state of the environment on the planet requires a set of operational measures to improve the environment, while the processes of degradation of the biosphere have not yet assumed (if not already assumed) the nature of irreversible changes. One of the most effective measures, in our opinion, should be considered the use of the recently obtained positive results of a comprehensive study of the human genome, which will allow, through a targeted reduction in the level of genetic disorders in human body reduce the impact of genetic and environmental factors on human health.
In conclusion, we note that in the pursuit of independence from nature, society today has reached a critical state of alienation from it, thereby creating a real threat to its own existence on the planet. This alienation manifests itself most clearly in the unrestrained growth of material consumption, in the cultivation of ever new needs for things. In striving for independence from the forces of nature, society and the individual, increasingly violating natural ecological ties, forget about their responsibility for the world around them.
Going into space and creating artificial conditions for long-term life under water and underground, a person remains a biological species and must comply with certain evolutionary conditions of the state of the environment (temperature, pressure, gas composition of atmospheric air, chemical composition food and more). In recent decades, due to the high pace of industrialization, there have been clear trends towards the deterioration of environmental conditions, which causes concern in the conservation favorable conditions not only for human existence, but also for the natural environment as a whole. However, the problem of environmental degradation is not of biological origin, but is caused by social factors and reflects the contradictions of the interaction between society and nature, the aggravation of which is associated with the irrational use of natural resources, the consumer and sometimes predatory attitude of man to nature, and the low level of ecological culture.
However, society, culture, man in relation to nature have not only destructive, but also creative potential, they are able to overcome the ecological crisis. A major transition is taking place in the ecological consciousness of mankind today. Previously, people themselves created ecological dead ends and then thought about how to get out of them, how to overcome the created danger to life. Today, the main efforts should be directed to the development of such forms of social activity that would reduce the environmental risk to an absolute minimum and ensure the environmental safety of life. As for all mankind, for Russia the way out of the ecological crisis is seen in the transition to a model of sustainable (non-destructive, non-depleting and non-polluting) natural environment) development, which is seen as the only alternative to the unbridled economic growth characteristic of the market model of nature management.
In modern conditions, scientifically based and cost-effective systems of state, socio-political and economic management of nature management and environmental protection are being created in developed countries. In many countries, the state environmental policy is being developed on various levels management and centralized financing of environmental activities is provided, the role of the scientific community in solving environmental issues. These measures can be carried out only on the basis of a new social and economic policy, on environmental education and training, which should lead to a change in man's attitude to nature and his behavior in the environment. In this process, the role of environmental knowledge is especially growing.
| The impact of an unfavorable environment on human health
Fundamentals of life safety
6th grade
Lesson 31
The impact of an unfavorable environment on human health
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Human health largely depends on the state of the natural environment. Clean water, fresh air and fertile soil - all this is necessary for people.
Environmental pollution adversely affects health. Polluted atmospheric air can become a source of penetration of harmful substances into the body through the respiratory system. Polluted water may contain pathogens and substances hazardous to health. contaminated soil and ground water degrade the quality of agricultural products. Man has long considered the natural environment mainly as a source of raw materials (resources) necessary to meet their needs. At the same time, most of the resources taken from nature are returned to nature in the form of waste. Most of this waste and pollution is generated in cities.
Currently, more than half of the world's people live in cities (about 74% in the Russian Federation). Cities are not only places where people live, but also industrial centers that host large factories and plants that pollute the environment.
In cities, goods and people are continuously transported by rail and highways. All types of transport pollute the atmosphere with exhaust gases containing substances harmful to human health.
In every modern city, as a result of human activity, a lot of industrial and domestic waste is generated.
From landfills located near cities, to long distance an unpleasant odor spreads. In landfills, a large number of flies, mice and rats breed, which are carriers of various pathogenic bacteria.
Human activity leads to constant pollution of the natural environment: atmospheric air, natural waters and soils.
Air pollution. In some cases, air pollution is caused by gaseous substances, in others - by the presence of suspended particles. Gaseous impurities include various compounds of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and hydrocarbons. The most common solid impurities are dust and soot particles.
The main sources of air pollution include enterprises of the fuel and energy complex, transport and industrial enterprises.
Water pollution. The main pollutants of natural waters are oil and oil products that enter the water as a result of natural oil seeps in the areas of its occurrence, oil production, transportation, processing and use as fuel and industrial raw materials.
Pollution of the aquatic environment occurs when liquid flows down from chemically treated agricultural and forest lands into water bodies, and when waste from enterprises is discharged into water bodies. All this worsens the sanitary and hygienic indicators of water quality.
Soil pollution. The main soil pollutants are metals and their compounds, radioactive elements, as well as fertilizers and pesticides ( chemicals used for weed control).
It is known that under the influence of the environment in the human body, inherited changes (mutations) can occur. The constant deterioration of the environment can ultimately lead to a decrease in the protective properties of the body, which will cease to resist various diseases.
Society is aware of the need to legislate human rights to a clean environment. Thus, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted in 1993, defines: "Everyone has the right to a favorable environment, reliable information about its condition and compensation for damage to his health or property by an environmental offense."
People around the world are taking certain measures to reduce harmful industrial emissions into the environment, but this is still not enough. Each person must take care of the natural environment and his own health. Caring for the environment begins with one's own house, street, park, etc. It is necessary to change one's consumerist, aggressive attitude towards nature, replace it with concern for the preservation of all living things, and participate in planting greenery in one's native city or locality. How to increase the body's resistance to the adverse effects of the external environment?
AT recent times substances that increase the body's resistance to the harmful effects of the environment are being actively studied. Vitamins A (retinol), E (topherol), C ( vitamin C). All vitamins are absorbed most fully if they are used in combination.
It should be noted that these vitamins and trace elements necessary for the human body are found in significant amounts in products of plant origin. We list the most accessible of them.
White cabbage contains a whole complex of vitamins, enzymes and microelements, which make it one of the most important products of medical and dietary nutrition. Useful and fresh sauerkraut When sauerkraut is sauerkraut, it retains a significant amount of vitamin C.
Carrots are valuable food product. Carrots contain all the vitamins necessary for the body (B, B2, B6, C, E, K, PP). Daily consumption of fresh carrots significantly strengthens the body, increases its resistance to infectious diseases and the adverse effects of the external environment.
Other vegetables known to you also contain many healthy substances: potatoes, onion, Bell pepper, beets, tomatoes, parsley. It has been established that vegetable oils (sunflower, corn, etc.) are rich in vitamin E. Vegetable salads and vinaigrettes, dressed vegetable oil, contain the whole complex of vitamins and microelements necessary for your body. Never give up fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as from fresh salads. To maintain health, experts recommend that 2/3 of a person's daily diet should consist of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Test yourself
■ What impact does the natural environment have on human health?
■ Why do you think the environment is being polluted? Justify your answer.
■ Why should each person protect and conserve the natural environment?
■ Is it possible to increase the resistance of the human body to the effects of adverse environmental factors?
■ Why is eating fresh fruits and vegetables good for human health?
After lessons
Eating fresh vegetables and fruits is beneficial. Try to confirm this, based on the experience of catering 8 to your family and materials on the Internet and 8 different printed publications (books, magazines). Record your opinion in the safety diary.
In the empty cells of the table in the safety diary, write down what, in your opinion, poisons the natural environment (air, water, soil) industry, transport and landfills. In doing so, use the knowledge gained from the study of the paragraph and your own observations of environmental pollution in your area.
International Independent
Ecological and Political University
Penza branch
Faculty of Ecopsychology and Philology
Specialty: Philology
Subject: Environmental problems of our time
Topic: The impact of environmental pollution on humans
abstract
Penza 2000
The impact of environmental pollution on humans.
I Classification and forms of environmental pollution. 3
II The state of health of the population.
1. Reducing the number of healthy population. 12
2. Factors affecting health and life expectancy. fourteen
3. Medical and sanitary provision of human security. twenty
III Ways to solve environmental problems. 23
I. Pollution of the natural environment is the introduction into this or that ecological system of living or non-living components or structural changes that are not characteristic of it, interrupting the circulation of substances, their assimilation, the flow of energy, as a result of which this system is destroyed, or its productivity is reduced.
A pollutant can be any physical agent, chemical, or species, entering the environment or arising in it in quantities that go beyond their usual concentration, limiting natural fluctuations or average natural background at the time in question.
The main indicator characterizing the impact of pollutants on the environment is the maximum allowable concentration (MAC). From the standpoint of ecology, the maximum permissible concentrations of a particular substance are the upper limits of limiting environmental factors (in particular, chemical compounds), at which their content does not go beyond the permissible boundaries of the human ecological niche.
Pollution ingredients are thousands of chemical compounds, especially metals or their oxides, toxic substances, aerosols. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 500 thousand chemical compounds are currently used in practice. At the same time, about 40 thousand compounds have properties that are very harmful to living organisms, and 12 thousand are toxic.
The most common pollutants are ash and dust different composition, oxides of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, various compounds of sulfur, nitrogen, fluorine, chlorine, radioactive gases, aerosols, etc. The greatest air pollution is accounted for by carbon oxides - about 200 million tons per year, dust - about 250 million tons per year, ash - about 120 million tons per year, hydrocarbons - about 50 million tons per year. The saturation of the biosphere with heavy metals - mercury, gallium, germanium, zinc, lead, etc. - is progressing. When fuel, especially coal, is burned with ash and exhaust gases, more than is extracted from the bowels of the environment: magnesium - 1.5 times, molybdenum - 3 times, arsenic - 7 times, uranium and titanium - 10 times, aluminum, iodine, cobalt - 15 times, mercury - 50 times, lithium, vanadium, strontium, beryllium, zirconium - 100 times, gallium and germanium - 1000 times, yttrium - tens of thousands of times.
Percentage of harmful emissions produced by countries in 1995: USA - 23%, China - 13.9%, Russia - 7.2%, Japan - 5%, Germany - 3.8%, all others - 47.1% .
Environmental pollution is divided into:
1. natural - caused by some natural phenomena, usually catastrophic (floods, volcanic eruptions, mudflows, etc.);
2. anthropogenic - arise as a result of human activities.
Among the anthropogenic pollution are the following:
a) biological - accidental or as a result of human activity;
b) microbiological (microbial) - the appearance of an unusually large number of microbes associated with their mass distribution on anthropogenic substrates or environments changed in the course of human economic activity;
c) mechanical - contamination of the environment by agents that have a mechanical effect without physical and chemical consequences;
d) chemical - a change in natural chemical properties environment, as a result of which the average long-term fluctuation in the amount of any substances for the period under consideration increases or decreases, or the penetration into the environment of substances that are normally absent in it or are in concentrations exceeding the MPC;
e) physical - a change in the natural physical state of the environment.
The latter is subdivided into:
a) thermal (thermal), resulting from an increase in the temperature of the environment, mainly due to industrial emissions of heated air, water, and exhaust gases;
b) light - violation of the natural illumination of the area as a result of exposure artificial sources light, leading to anomalies in the life of plants and animals;
c) noise - is formed as a result of an increase in the intensity and frequency of noise above the natural level;
d) electromagnetic - appears as a result of changes in the electromagnetic properties of the environment (from power lines, radio, television, the operation of some industrial installations, etc.), leading to global and local geophysical anomalies and changes in subtle biological structures;
e) radioactive - associated with an increase in the natural level of content in the environment of radioactive substances.
Possible forms of environmental pollution are shown in Figure 3.2.
The direct objects of pollution (acceptors of pollutants) are the main components of the ecotone: atmosphere, water, soil. Indirect objects of pollution are the components of the biocenosis - plants, animals, microorganisms.
Anthropogenic sources of pollution are very diverse. Among them are not only industrial enterprises and a heat and power complex, but also household waste, animal husbandry, transport waste, as well as chemicals introduced by humans into ecosystems to protect useful products from pests, diseases, weeds.
On the industrial enterprises Substances polluting the natural environment are divided into four classes depending on the toxicity index (in this case, local concentration - LC):
1. Extremely dangerous (LC 50<0,5 мг/л).
2. Highly dangerous (LK 50<5 мг/л).
3. Moderately dangerous (LC 50<50 мг/л).
4. Low-hazard (LC 50>50 mg/l).
Substances polluting the environment are also subdivided according to their state of aggregation into 4 classes: solid, liquid, gaseous, mixed.
Industrial emissions into the environment can be classified according to other criteria:
1. On the organization of control and withdrawal - into organized and unorganized:
a) organized industrial release - release entering the environment (air and water basins) through specially constructed gas ducts, water conduits and pipes;
b) unorganized industrial release - release into the environment in the form of irregular spontaneous water or gas flows resulting from imperfection of process equipment or violation of its tightness, absence or poor operation of equipment for exhausting gases or removing contaminated water in places of loading and storage of raw materials, materials , waste, finished products (for example, dusting of waste rock dumps, unregulated surface runoff of industrial enterprises).
2. According to the withdrawal mode - continuous and periodic. Thus, the removal of blast-furnace gas is considered continuous, and the removal of converter gas is considered periodic.
3. By temperature - when the temperature of the flow (gas, water, mixed) is higher, lower or equal to the ambient temperature.
4. By localization - emissions occur in the main, auxiliary, ancillary industries, in transport, etc.
5. According to the signs of cleaning - into clean, normatively cleaned, partially cleaned, discarded without cleaning.
In this case, purification refers to the separation, capture and transformation into a harmless state of a pollutant coming from an industrial source.
Industrial emissions into the environment are divided into primary and secondary.
Primary emissions are emissions that enter the environment from various sources, and secondary ones, being products of the formation of primary ones, can be more toxic and dangerous than the first ones. A typical transformation of some substances is their photochemical oxidation.
Sources of environmental pollution by industry are classified depending on the object of pollution: atmosphere, water basin, lithosphere.
Sources of air pollution:
1. By appointment:
a) technological - contain tail gases after capturing at the blowdown units of apparatuses, air vents, etc. (emissions are characterized by high concentrations of harmful substances and very small volumes of air removed);
b) ventilation emissions - local exhaust from equipment and general exhaust;
2. By location;
a) unshaded, or high, located in the zone of an undeformed wind flow (high pipes, point sources that remove pollution to a height exceeding the height of the building by 2.5 times);
b) darkened, or low, - located at a height 2.5 times less than the height of the building;
c) ground - near the earth's surface (openly located technological equipment, industrial sewage wells, spilled toxic substances, scattered production wastes).
3. By geometric shape:
a) point (pipes, shafts, roof fans);
b) linear (aeration lamps, open windows, closely located exhaust shafts and torches);
4. According to the mode of operation: continuous and intermittent action, salvo and instantaneous. In the case of volley emissions, a large amount of harmful substances enters the air in a short period of time; are possible in case of accidents or incineration of fast-burning production waste at special destruction sites. With instantaneous emissions, pollution spreads in a fraction of a second, sometimes to a considerable height. Occur during blasting and emergency situations.
5. According to the propagation range:
a) on-site, when the pollutants emitted into the atmosphere form high concentrations only on the territory of the industrial area, and no noticeable pollution is observed in residential areas (a sanitary protection zone of sufficient size is provided for such emissions);
b) off-site, when the emitted pollution is potentially capable of creating high concentrations (of the order of MPC for the air of settlements) on the territory of a residential area.
Sources of pollution of the water basin:
1. Atmospheric waters carry masses of pollutants (pollutants) of industrial origin washed out of the air. When flowing down the slopes, atmospheric and melt water carry away masses of substances. Especially dangerous are runoff from city streets, industrial sites, carrying masses of oil products, garbage, phenols, acids.
2. Municipal wastewater, which includes mainly domestic wastewater, contains faeces, detergents (surfactant detergents), microorganisms, including pathogens. About 100 km 3 of such waters are formed annually in the country as a whole.
3. Agricultural waters. Pollution with these waters is due, firstly, to the fact that an increase in the yield and productivity of land is inevitably associated with the use of pesticides used to suppress pests, plant diseases, and weeds. Pesticides enter the soil or are washed away over long distances, ending up in water bodies. Secondly, animal husbandry is associated with the formation of large masses of solid organic matter and urea. These wastes are not toxic, but their masses are huge and their presence leads to severe consequences for aquatic ecological systems. In addition to organic matter, agricultural wastewater contains a lot of biogenic elements, including nitrogen and phosphorus.
4. Industrial wastewater generated in a wide variety of industries, among which the most actively consume water are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical, wood chemical, and oil refining industries. During the development of reservoir deposits in our country, every year 2.5 billion km 3 of drainage mine and slag waters are formed, contaminated with chloride and sulfate compounds, iron and copper compounds, which are not suitable even as industrial water and must be cleaned before discharge.
Pollution of water systems is a greater danger than air pollution. The processes of generation or self-purification proceed much more slowly in water than in air.
Sources of pollution of the lithosphere.
1. Residential buildings and household enterprises. Among the pollutants: household waste, food waste, feces, construction waste, heating system waste, household items that have become unusable, waste from public institutions, hospitals, canteens, hotels, etc.
2. Agriculture. Fertilizers, pesticides used in agriculture and forestry to protect plants from pests, diseases and weeds. Waste of livestock and agricultural products.
3. Thermal power engineering. The formation of a mass of slag during the combustion of coal, the release into the atmosphere of soot, unburned particles, sulfur oxides that end up in the soil.
4. Transport. During the operation of internal combustion engines, nitrogen oxides, lead, hydrocarbons and other substances are released that settle on the soil and plants.
5. Industrial enterprises. Industrial waste contains substances that have a toxic effect on living organisms. The wastes of the metallurgical industry contain salts of non-ferrous and heavy metals. The engineering industry releases cyanides, arsenic and beryllium compounds into the environment. In the production of plastics and artificial fibers, benzene and phenol wastes are generated. Pulp and paper industry waste - phenols, methanol, turpentine, bottoms.
With soil pollution, self-purification almost does not occur. Toxic substances accumulate, which contributes to a gradual change in the chemical composition, disruption of the unity of the geochemical environment and living organisms. From the soil, toxic substances enter the organisms of animals and humans.
II. 1. The definition of the concept of "health" has been in the focus of attention of doctors since the advent of scientific medicine and to this day remains the subject of discussion. We can say that health is the absence of disease. The famous physician Galen from Pergamum wrote back in the 2nd century that health is a state in which we do not suffer from pain and are not limited in our life activity. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers health as a positive state that characterizes the personality as a whole, and defines it as a state of complete physical, spiritual (psychological) and social well-being, and not just the absence of disease and disability.
Public health is the main feature, the main property of the human community (the population of a certain territory), its natural state. Public health reflects both the individual adaptive reactions of each individual person and the ability of the entire community to work most effectively, protect the country, help the elderly and children, protect nature, etc., that is, to fulfill their social tasks, as well as to reproduce and educate new healthy generations to fulfill their biological functions.
The quality of public health quite convincingly reflects the conditions of life, i.e. is an indicator of these conditions and serves as an indicator of the fitness (adaptation) of a particular community of people to their environment.
One can get a certain idea of the quality of public health in our country by comparing the medical statistics of Russia and the United States.
Infant mortality in Russia is 2 times higher, standardized mortality from all causes is 1.55 times higher for men and 1.35 times higher for women; mortality of men from malignant neoplasms is 1.27 times higher; from diseases of the circulatory system in men, mortality is 1.87 times higher, in women - 1.98 times; from injuries and poisoning in men is 1.85 times higher, in women - 1.65 times. Mortality of men from tuberculosis is 17 times higher. The incidence of hepatitis A in Russia is 7.5 times higher, bacillary dysentery - 12.5 times, tuberculosis - 4.2 times. In Russia, the quality of public health is lower, although the United States is not the world leader in the quality of public health.
Age-specific mortality rates for the entire population of Russia (the number of deaths per year per 1000 people of the corresponding age group) are shown in Table 5-1.
Mortality changes sharply in all age groups within a short period of time - 1993 and 1994. in relation to 1990, corresponding to the critical situation experienced by society. A slight improvement in the situation in 1995 and a continuation of the positive trend in 1996 should be noted.
II. 2. A person throughout his life is under the constant influence of a whole range of environmental factors - from environmental to social. In addition to individual biological characteristics, all of them directly affect its vital activity, health and, ultimately, life expectancy. The approximate contribution of various factors to the health of the population is assessed in four positions: lifestyle, genetics (biology) of a person, the external environment and health care. (Table 19.1)
Lifestyle has the greatest impact on health. Almost half of all cases of diseases depend on it. The second place in terms of impact on health is occupied by the state of the human environment (at least one third of diseases are determined by adverse environmental influences). Heredity causes about 20% of diseases
At present, when medicine has defeated many epidemic infectious diseases, and smallpox has been practically eliminated throughout the globe,
the role of health care in preventing diseases of modern man has somewhat decreased.
Prevention of diseases depends on many reasons, starting with the socio-economic policy of the state and ending with a person's own behavior. Health and life expectancy are influenced by individual adaptive reactions of each member of society with its social and biological functions in certain conditions of a particular region. The concept of “human health” cannot be quantified. Each age has its own diseases. In urban conditions, human health is affected by five main groups of factors: living environment, industrial, social and biological factors, and individual lifestyle. (Table 19.2)
When assessing the health of the population, such an important factor as the factor of regional peculiarity is also taken into account, which consists of a number of elements: climate, relief, degree of anthropogenic pressures, development of socio-economic conditions, population density, industrial accidents, catastrophes and natural disasters, etc. . It is a matter of great concern that at present the Russian Federation in terms of mortality and average life expectancy steadily occupies one of the last places among industrialized countries.
On the eve of the First World War in 1913, per 1,000 inhabitants of Russia, 45.5 were born and 29.1 died. Thus, the natural increase was 16.4 people. In 1960, when the demographic revolution was basically completed in most of the country, the number of births per year was 24.9 thousand people, and deaths - 7.1 thousand people, the natural increase was 17%. One of the main reasons for the changes that took place was the rapid decline in mortality. Even at the turn of the 20th century, life expectancy was only 32 years. In 1970 - 1980. it more than doubled and reached more than 73 years.
The reduction in mortality was greatly facilitated by the efforts of medicine in the fight against infectious diseases, in particular with "children's" infections: measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, poliomyelitis, etc.
In recent years, with the beginning of the transition to a "market economy", the demographic situation in the country has become critical. Mortality began to exceed the birth rate by 1.7 times, and in many territories of Russia - by two to three times. According to demographers' forecast, by the year 2000 the death rate in Russia will be almost twice as high as the birth rate. For 10 years (from 1987 to 1996) was born 6 million years less than for the previous 10 years.
The infant mortality rate in Russia is 22.5 times higher than in Japan. The mortality rate of children aged 1 to 4 years is 4-5 times higher than in developed countries.
Now the population of Russia is declining by almost a million people a year, there are only 5 million children under the age of 6. At the same time, more than half of them have certain diseases. Today we are talking about the survival of the Russian people. The nation's gene pool is under threat.
Evidence of this is the data from the state report "On the state of health of the population of the Russian Federation in 1992". For the first time in 1992, the country's population declined. A decrease in the population was noted in 40 out of 79 Russian regions (in 1991, a similar situation took place in 33 regions).
In 1995, one of the lowest birth rates in the world was registered in Russia - 9.2 babies per 1,000 people, while in 1987 it was 17.2 (for reference: in the USA - 16 babies per 1,000 people). Today, the average birth rate per family is 1.4 versus 2.14 - 2.15 required for simple reproduction of the population.
According to experts, by 2040 Russia expects not only a reduction in the population as a whole, but also in the population of working age by almost a quarter.
Significantly reduced life expectancy. If in the early 70s the life expectancy of Russians was about 2 years lower than in the developed countries of Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, then at present this difference is 8-10 years. According to estimated data in Russia, the maximum level of life expectancy for men was noted in 1986 (66.6) years, and for women in 1987 (76.7). In 1994, the average life expectancy for men was 59.1 years, for women, 72.1 years. Currently, men live an average of 57-58 years, women - 70-71 years. This is the last place in Europe.
For comparison: in 1992 - 1993, in the United States, life expectancy for men was 72.2 years, for women - 79.2 years, in most other countries within the boundaries of 72 - 75 and 79 - 81 years, and in Japan - 76.5 and 83.1 years for men and women, respectively.
An analysis of the trend of reducing life expectancy by age groups shows that the largest reductions in the indicator occur mainly in the groups of 40-44, 45-49 and 50-54 years, as well as some jumps in the group of 16-19 years, especially for men. Unprecedented mortality of men of working age from accidents, poisoning, injuries. For the countries of Europe, the USA, Japan, the proportion of deaths from these causes is 5-5.5 percent, in Russia 22-25 percent, i.e. - 4 times higher. Maternal mortality in Russia is 5-10 times higher than the same indicator in developed countries.
Typically, the number of deaths increases in proportion to population growth. Unique in world practice is the dynamics of mortality characteristic only for Russia: an increase in the number of deaths occurs with a decrease in the population. There is a high probability of a negative trend developing in a fairly long term. One of the reasons for this trend is the ever worsening ecological state of the territory of Russia.
In Russia, the structure of mortality, which is not typical for any country in the world, has formed. In 1995, one third of the dead (672 thousand people) died at working age. Of these, 80% are men (550 thousand people).
There is no such difference in the world between the life expectancy of a man and a woman - 12-14 years.
All this indicates that without changes in the political, socio-economic and environmental situation on the territory of Russia, a “terrible explosion” is possible in the foreseeable future, with a catastrophically decreasing population and a decrease in life expectancy.
In recent years, an unstable sanitary and epidemiological situation has been developing in the country: the number of intestinal infections, the number of tuberculosis and venereal diseases is growing, and typhus is already spreading.
According to experts, 70% of the Russian population lives in a state of prolonged psycho-emotional and social stress, which depletes the adaptive and compensatory mechanisms that support health. This is evidenced by an increase in the number of mental illnesses, an increase in cases of reactive psychoses and neuroses, depression, alcoholism and drug addiction (about 2 million people). In Russia, there is practically no promotion of a healthy lifestyle.
The growth of morbidity and disability in childhood is alarming. In 4-5 times the incidence of newborns has increased, in 2-3 times - in children. Delays in the development of children are increasingly being noted (according to the Ministry of Health of Russia, at present there are about 80% of chronically ill children in schools, and according to the forecast, by the year 2000 there will be more of them).
The rate of increase in the level of mortality from accidents, poisoning, injuries is much higher than from diseases of the circulatory system, respiratory organs and digestion, which in the recent past occupied leading positions among the causes of death. To a large extent, this is the result of an exacerbation of the criminogenic situation.
Mortality is growing from diseases associated with the deteriorating environmental situation (acute respiratory diseases, congenital anomalies, anemia, leukemia), from malignant neoplasms.
The country's population is rapidly aging. If before the war people younger than working age accounted for 38.8% of the country's population, now it is 22.4%. On the contrary, the number of people older than working age increased from 8.6% to 20.5%, and together with the disabled - 25.2%. If in 1939 there were six workers per non-working person, then in 1996 there were less than two. According to forecasts until 2010, the number of employed and unemployed will equalize.
All these indicators: fertility, mortality, morbidity, life expectancy - the main indicators of the level and quality of life of the population are currently acquiring major political and economic significance.
The given data give grounds to conclude that the state of health of the population is deteriorating due to the socio-economic, economic, environmental situation in cities and villages in the whole country and requires additional socio-hygienic and environmental studies.
II. 3. In recent decades, the problem of preventing the adverse effects of environmental factors on human health has moved to one of the first places among other global problems.
This is due to the rapid increase in the number of factors different in nature (physical, chemical, biological, social) factors, the complex spectrum and mode of their influence, the possibility of simultaneous (combined, complex) action, as well as the variety of pathological conditions caused by these factors.
Among the complex of anthropogenic (technogenic) impacts on the environment and human health, a special place is occupied by numerous chemical compounds widely used in industry, agriculture, energy and other areas of production. Currently, more than 11 million chemicals are known, and in economically developed countries over 100 thousand chemical compounds are produced and used, many of which actually affect humans and the environment.
The impact of chemical compounds can cause almost all pathological processes and conditions known in general pathology. Moreover, as knowledge about the mechanisms of toxic effects deepens and expands, new types of adverse effects (carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunotoxic, allergenic, embryotoxic, teratogenic and other types of actions) are revealed.
There are several fundamental approaches to the prevention of the adverse effects of chemicals: a complete ban on production and use, a ban on entering the environment and any impact on humans, replacing a toxic substance with a less toxic and dangerous one, limiting (regulating) the content in environmental objects and the levels of impact on workers and the general population. Due to the fact that modern chemistry has become a determining factor in the development of key areas in the entire system of productive forces, the choice of a prevention strategy is a complex, multi-criteria task, the solution of which requires analysis as a risk of developing immediate and long-term adverse effects of a substance on the human body, its offspring. , the environment, and the possible social, economic, medical and biological consequences of the ban on the production and use of a chemical compound.
The determining criterion for choosing a prevention strategy is the criterion of preventing (preventing) a harmful action. In our country and abroad, the production and use of a number of hazardous industrial carcinogens and pesticides is prohibited. A ban has been introduced on the contact of workers and the release into the environment of the most biologically active chemical compounds, for example, certain drugs.
MPC of atmospheric pollution is the maximum concentration that does not have a direct or indirect adverse effect on the health of a person and the health of subsequent generations throughout a person’s life, does not reduce working capacity and does not worsen his well-being, as well as sanitary and living conditions.
The methodological foundations of hygienic regulation of atmospheric pollution are formulated as follows:
1. Only that concentration of a chemical substance in the atmosphere is recognized as permissible, which does not have a direct or indirect harmful or unpleasant effect on a person, does not affect well-being and performance.
2. Addiction to harmful substances in the air is considered as an adverse effect.
3. Concentrations of chemicals in the atmosphere that adversely affect vegetation, local climate, atmospheric transparency and living conditions of the population are considered unacceptable.
The current practice of hygienic regulation of pollutants in the atmospheric air is based mainly on the first two criteria of harmfulness. The environmental effects of atmospheric pollution are rarely taken into account when developing MPCs.
Industrial chemicals in the conditions of production act within 6-8 hours on persons of working age who undergo preliminary (before entering work) and periodic medical examinations.
The MPC of harmful substances in the air of the working area is defined as the concentration that during daily (except weekends) work for 8 hours (but not more than 41 hours a week) for the entire period of activity does not cause the occurrence of diseases or abnormalities in the health of the worker and his descendants detected by modern research methods during work or in the long term of life.
The objects of standardization at enterprises are: the organization of work on labor protection, control of the state of working conditions, the procedure for stimulating work to ensure labor safety, the organization of training and instructing workers on labor safety, the organization of labor safety control and all other work that the labor protection service is engaged in.
III. Environmental protection standards are aimed at preserving the Earth's gene pool, restoring ecosystems, preserving monuments of the world cultural and natural heritage, etc. They are used in the organization of buffer zones of nature reserves, natural national parks, biosphere reserves, green areas of cities, etc. Production and economic standards are designed to limit the parameters of the production and economic activities of a particular enterprise in terms of environmental protection of the natural environment. These include technological, urban planning, recreational and other standards of economic activity.
Technological standards include: the maximum allowable emission (MPE) of harmful substances into the atmosphere, the maximum allowable discharge (MPD) of pollutants into water bodies and the maximum allowable amount of combustible fuel (MPT). These standards are established for each source of pollution entering the environment and are closely related to the profile of work, the volume and nature of pollution of a particular enterprise, workshop, unit.
Urban planning standards are developed to ensure environmental safety in the planning and development of cities and other settlements.
Recreational standards define the rules for the use of natural complexes in order to provide conditions for a good rest and tourism.
Options for the final disposal of radioactive waste (RW) for their various categories were proposed by the IAEA in 1982-1984.
For IV and V categories (medium and low-level waste with short-lived nuclides), it is allowed to dispose of them in liquid form (injection) into deep permeable formations and, in the form of hardening pulps, into low-permeability rocks. The use of the nuclide decay duration as the main classifying feature when considering RW disposal issues is quite justified, since the requirements for the disposal technology, geological formations, depth and location of disposal are largely determined by the period of time during which the waste will remain toxic.
General requirements for the final stages of radioactive waste management:
1. Waste must be isolated from the living environment and direct human activities, the habitat of animals and the development of vegetation.
2. The place of storage or disposal of waste should be difficult to access for accidental or intentional entry; waste should not be exposed to natural catastrophic events capable of removing waste from storage.
3. The boundaries of structures, territory or geological environment (subsoil) in which wastes are located must be clearly defined and established taking into account possible natural phenomena. Within the boundaries of storage or disposal, activities not related to waste are not allowed or limited.
4. Isolation of waste within the established boundaries should be provided for the necessary time until the nuclides and other components pose a danger to humans and the environment, or for a realistically predictable period of time.
5. To reduce the exposure of personnel and the public, preliminary operations for the preparation, processing, and transportation of waste, accompanied by the release of radioactivity into the environment, exposure to radiation, should be minimized.
6. During storage of RW or after their disposal in the storage facility, processes should not develop that worsen the conditions for waste isolation and lead to the release of waste components outside the storage facility, requiring special work on storage or reburial of waste.
7. RW storage or disposal sites should occupy the minimum possible areas and volumes, have a minimal impact on natural resources and various types of activities for their use in adjacent territories.
The world is engulfed in a severe ecological and social crisis, which is rapidly developing, and no less severe economic wars. As a result, humanity faced a choice of the direction of its development, since, on the one hand, the rapidly growing economy came into collision with the global environment, and on the other hand, economic growth could not solve social problems, especially the problems of poverty and hunger. The choice turns out to be difficult. Or humanity, having completely destroyed the nature of the land, may (??), solve social problems, but will inevitably face an ecological catastrophe, or find an alternative to such a choice and solve social problems, avoiding an ecological catastrophe. A person must realize himself as a part of the biosphere and its main component - the biota that forms the environment, feel the enormous complexity of this self-regulating system, which the human mind is unlikely to fully understand, much less replace with a technical system. A person must understand and normally perceive his role in the mechanism of maintaining the stability of the biosphere. The new ecological paradigm - the theory of biotic regulation of the environment is aimed at:
1. conservation of wildlife;
2. preservation of mankind on Earth;
3. preservation of civilization;
4. understanding the meaning of life;
5. creation of a more just social system;
6. transition from the philosophy of war to the philosophy of peace and partnership;
7. transition to a healthy lifestyle;
8. love and respect for future generations.
Solving environmental problems depends on us. We must understand that everything is heading towards the extinction of life on Earth, and urgent action must be taken. It is necessary to massively introduce people into the environmental protection program. To do this, you need to choose the right solution to environmental problems.
Used Books
1. Danilov-Danilyan V.I. "Ecological problems" M.: MNEPU, 1997.
2. Danilov-Danilyan V.I. "Ecology, nature conservation and environmental safety" M.: MNEPU, 1997.
3. Mebel B. “Environmental Science. How the world works” M.: Mir, 1993.
4. Moiseev N.N., Stepanov S.A. "Russia in the surrounding world" M.: MNEPU, 1998.
5. Protasov V.F. "Ecology, health and environmental protection in Russia" M.: Finance and statistics, 1999.
