Posts Tagged ‘polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons’

Which Air Pollutants Are Worst For Your Health?

Sunday, March 17th, 2013
You know your lungs are vital for breathing. Think of them also as a point of exchange between you and your environment. What are you bringing into your body?

You know your lungs are vital for breathing. Think of them also as a point of exchange between you and your environment. What are you bringing into your body?

Give a Wide Berth to These Four Enemies of Air Quality

Your lungs are an entryway to your body, a site where you literally take in your environment. Millions of tiny air sacs in your lungs have walls only one cell thick. The oxygen necessary to life diffuses into your blood across this cell layer, and carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism, diffuses out to be eliminated from your body. This exquisite design is fundamental to life, and blocking it for only a few minutes will result in death.

Modern indoor and outdoor air pollutants are intruders hijacking this process, leading to premature death, disability, and damage that crosses generations. Microscopic pollutant particles and gases can cross the one cell layer of your air exchange sacs and enter your blood, from there carried throughout your body to cause widespread damage.

Other particles remain lodged deep in your lungs, provoking serious respiratory inflammation and harming your ability to get the oxygen needed for survival. Your lungs are structured to function in clean air, so don’t (more…)

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Barbecue with a Side of Chemicals

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Killer Reasons to Break Up with Your Grill This Summer

The start of warm summer breezes and promise of the Fourth of July inspire many to drag out their barbecue grill. Charcoal and lighter

Barbeques deliver a double dose of dangerous chemicals. These hazards get into your body through your lungs and your digestive tract.

fluid join the bestseller list. Outdoor cooking sets the stage for traditional get-togethers with family and friends.

This romance with barbecues has a dark side that few know about. After all, information about polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is obscured by millions of dollars of ads and happy images for grilled meat.

As is the case for most toxic chemicals, the long-term health effects of PAH are poorly understood, so easy to ignore. Yet PAH is an insidious public health nightmare that can invade your own life and the next generation.

Truth in labeling would require an explicit warning on bags of charcoal and packs of meat and fish. “Eating grilled or smoked animal foods can cause DNA mutation, cancer, and lower intelligence in your children.” Wide knowledge of these dangers might inspire many to consider alternatives, or at least make informed decisions.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a product of incomplete combustion of materials that contain carbon. Burn tobacco, wood, oil, gasoline, coal, garbage – or meat and fish – and PAHs will form. Over 100 varieties of PAHs can menace our health and the environment.

A widespread nutrition myth touts that the major harm from (more…)

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