Washington University in St. Louis. (2019, June 30). Air pollution contributes significantly to diabetes globally: Even low pollution levels can pose health risk. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 25, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180630153740.htm

 

A new study has found that exposure to outdoor air pollution, “even at levels deemed safe” by the WHO, have shown to cause an increased risk for diabetes. By showing the relationship between ‘deemed safe’ levels of air pollution and diabetes, the research supports the claim that “current levels are still not sufficiently safe”, and should be regulated even more. The study shows that when “dust, dirt, smoke, soot and liquid droplets” enter the bloodstream from the lungs, they “reduce insulin production and trigger inflammation”, preventing the body from turning blood glucose into energy which the body needs to sustain itself. According to the research, pollution accounted for “14 percent of all new diabetes cases globally” in 2016, illustrating that pollution is a major factor in the overall amount of diabetes cases. In short, the article explores the safety of currently deemed safe levels of pollution, concluding that they are in fact not safe and that they actually contribute greatly to diabetes cases globally.

 

This article is related to environmental science because it explores the relationship between an organism’s surrounding environment and its health. This article was very surprising to me, because I thought that the ‘deemed safe’ levels of pollution would actually be safe. To my dismay, they are actually unsafe and contribute heavily to diabetes cases globally. I am confused about the fact that the World Health Organization would deem these levels of pollution when they are clearly not, and I am worried by the fact that lobbyists are advocating for even less regulations for the ‘deemed safe’ amount of pollution in the environment. I think that before anything can be fully ‘deemed safe’ there must be extensive research behind it, as many people’s lives are at stake, millions in regard to diabetes. I hope that because of this research the World Health Organization and other health information providers recalibrate their ‘deemed safe’ levels, so that we can become more strict about pollution and its health consequences.