European Environment Agency (2023, May 25). How air pollution affects our health. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-pollution/eow-it-affects-our-health
The high levels and long exposure to pollution in Europe can be a cause of a variety of diseases such as stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, trachea, bronchus and lung cancers, aggravated asthma, and lower respiratory infections. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia can also be affected by pollution, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, chronic exposure to pollution can affect every organ in the body starting in childhood and only continuing to worsen someone’s health. The EEA estimates that about 238,000 deaths in 2020 can be attributed to dangerously high levels of pollution. Stricter guidelines have been proposed by the European Commission in order to lessen the negative effects of pollution.
High levels of pollution have been tracked to be a large cause of disease in death throughout Europe. Pollution seems to be one of the most concerning outcomes of modern environmental practices as heightened pollution can affect any part of the body leading to a large variety of negative health effects. As discussed earlier, pollution also prominently affects people of lower socioeconomic standings as pollution is more prevalent in those areas and they are less likely to have access to high-quality medical care. Young, elderly, and people with pre-existing health conditions are also at a higher risk.
This is so scary to think about, especially with all the people consistently traveling to Europe. It is so important that we are able to minimize this pollution as much as possible, but it seems we are only making it worse unfortunately. I loved your take on this article! Has there been anything done yet to minimize the start of these diseases?
It is very disheartening to hear that people of lower socioeconomic backgrounds are so much more negatively affected. I can not imagine how upset and scared they are. It is also very interesting how even illnesses like Alzheimers and dementia could potentially be attributed to air pollution.
This is very disturbing considering we have known the effects of air pollution for some time and we have not done anything major to change it. There needs to be more thinking into how we can save our atmosphere. What should be the first act on this situation?