LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Pollution: Air
built 195 days ago
Pollution from exhaust gases of vehicles is reponsible for 60% of all air pollution and in cities up to 80%. There is a large variety of harmful chemicals present in these gases, with lead being one of the most dangerous.
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Pollution could result from contact with something itself unclean, a corpse for example. (At Athens, trials for murder always took place in the open air.) Birth and death were the two commonest natural pollutions, both shunned by the gods. Households in which either occurred had to be purified.
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Despite much progress in recent years in cleaning the nation's air, air pollution remains a serious threat to public health and the environment. The American Lung Association estimates that over half of the nation's population lives in counties receiving a grade of "F" on their rating system for ozone pollution. Outdoor air pollution in the U.S. due to particulate pollution alone was estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1997 to cause at least 20,000 premature deaths each year. Other estimates place this number at 50,000 to 100,000 deaths per year.(1) Globally, about 800,000 people per year die prematurely due to outdoor air pollution, according to a 2005 study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. This represents about 1.2 percent of total annual global deaths. The death toll due to air pollution only begins to touch the vast magnitude of human suffering caused by breathing our dirty air--for every 75 deaths per year due to air pollution in the U.S., health scientists have estimated that there are 505 hospital admissions for asthma and other respiratory diseases, 3,500 respiratory emergency doctor visits, 180,000 asthma attacks, 930,000 restricted activity days, and 2,000,000 acute respiratory symptom days.
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Children breathe even more air per pound of body weight and are ... more susceptible to air pollution. Millions of people live in areas where urban smog, very small particles, and toxic pollutants pose serious health concerns. These health concerns can stem from either short-term or long-term exposure to air pollution. When people have a short-term exposure to air pollutants above certain levels, they may experience temporary health concerns, such as eye irritation and burning, throat irritation, and difficulty breathing. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic health concerns, such as cancer and damage to the body's immune, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems. The problem of air pollution is also found outside of major urban centers.
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Urban air pollution is commonly known as smog. The dark London smog that Evelyn wrote of is generally a smoky mixture of carbon monoxide and organic compounds from incomplete combustion (burning) of fossil fuels such as coal, and sulfur dioxide from impurities in the fuels. As the smog ages and reacts with oxygen, organic and sulfuric acids condense as droplets, increasing the haze. Smog developed into a major health hazard by the 20th century. In 1948, 19 people died and thousands were sickened by smog in the small U.S. steel-mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania. In 1952, about 4,000 Londoners died of its effects.
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NuRide was founded on the belief that individuals who share rides provide a valuable service by reducing global warming, air pollution and traffic congestion, and should be rewarded for their efforts. Through the NuRide Network(R), individuals can easily share rides and earn rewards for every confirmed trip. Members can join at no cost and accumulate points which are used toward a variety of rewards made possible by sponsors. NuRide currently has over 23,000 members who collectively have taken over 1 million ridesharing trips and received more than $1 million in rewards. For more information on NuRide as well as sponsorship and marketing information, please visit www.nuride.com.
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