Air Pollution

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Problems Caused By Air Pollution

Some people think that air pollution is not harming the earth or the people, but it is doing worse, by killing the earth and getting people sick. 'Air pollutants,' according to Gay, 'are known to cause respiratory diseases, cancer, and other serious illnesses' (12). Air pollution not only threatens the health and life of humans but also causes damage to the environment (Gay 13).

First, air pollution causes a great deal of health problems. Wanting clean air is a good reason because air that is polluted can damage human health (Edelson 25). In the United States many health problems have occurred because of air pollution. According to Sproull, 'For more than a decade, local residents in the tri-state valley bounded by Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia have claimed to suffer from health problems, including rashes, respiratory problems and even cancers' (D4).

In 1948, in the industrial town of Donora, Pennsylvania, which sits in a valley, had twenty deaths, and nearly 6,000 residents, or 40% of the population, suffered respiratory problems (Edelson 25, 26). New York experienced several killer smogs, which in a later analysis attributed, from the usually severe pollution, 58 deaths (Edelson 26). Not only in the United States are health problems caused by air pollution showing up, but they are also showing up in other parts of the world, like Europe. In 1930, in Belgium's Meuse River valley, a major industrial region, where the primary fuel was coal reported sixty deaths, and about 6,000 residents of the valley became ill with breathing problems and respiratory infections (Edelson 25). In December 1952, the toll was huge in London from the infamous smog, which caused up to 4,000 deaths, when levels of sulfur oxides and particulates rose above normal...