Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health.

Pollution is poisoning our environment in every form; noise, heat and light. It is harmful for every living organism on the earth.

The air around us is filled with these electrically charged particles. They are generated in invisible billions by cosmic rays, radioactive elements in the soil, ultraviolet radiation, storms, waterfall, winds, the friction of blowing sand or dust. Every time we draw a breath they fill our lungs and are carried by the blood to our body cells.

They appear to have a lot to do with such varied things as our moods, why cattle grow skittish before a storm, why rheumatic joints "tingle" when the barometer falls, and how ants know in advance that it's going to rain, in time to block their tunnels.

POSITIVE, NEGATIVE IONS   AND HEALTH

·        Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health. By reducing air pollution levels, countries can reduce the burden of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.

·        The lower the levels of air pollution, the better the cardiovascular and respiratory health of the population will be, both long- and short-term.

·        The "WHO Air quality guidelines" provide an assessment of health effects of air pollution and thresholds for health-harmful pollution levels.

·        In 2014, 92% of the world population was living in places where the WHO air quality guidelines levels were not met.

·        Ambient (outdoor air pollution) in both cities and rural areas was estimated to cause 3 million premature deaths worldwide in 2012.

·        Some 88% of those premature deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, and the greatest number in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions.

·        Policies and investments supporting cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing, power generation, industry and better municipal waste management would reduce key sources of urban outdoor air pollution.

·        Reducing outdoor emissions from household coal and biomass energy systems, agricultural waste incineration, forest fires and certain agro-forestry activities (e.g. charcoal production) would reduce key rural and peri-urban air pollution sources in developing regions.

·        Reducing outdoor air pollution also reduces emissions of CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon particles and methane, thus contributing to the near- and long-term mitigation of climate change.

·        In addition to outdoor air pollution, indoor smoke is a serious health risk for some 3 billion people who cook and heat their homes with biomass fuels and coal.

Pollen, Pollution and Asthma 

The ion count is always low in cities where there's precious little open ground to generate them. Pollution makes a bad situation worse, since it tends to deplete the negative ion count even more.

The high pollen count in certain parts of North America each fall cuts even further into the negative ion count, since pollen has the same effect as dust. The end result is that the total ion count in cities is always down to what many scientists consider perilously low levels.

As if that weren't bad enough, the normal 5 - 4 ratio of positive ions to negative ions is distorted so that people are, in a sense, victims of positive ion poisoning.

Humidity and Asthma

In humid areas - New York in high summer, for instance, or in Toronto - part of the familiar discomfort is caused by the fact that air becomes ion-depleted. Really humid days are murder for anyone suffering from asthma or any respiratory allergy, and the fact that such people find it difficult to breath in hot, humid air may have less to do with the amount of oxygen in the air then with the massive negative ion depletion. Air electricity is quickly conducted to the ground by the moisture in the air, and what negative ions there are attach themselves to particles of moisture and dust and lose their charge. We have seen how positive ions make breathing more difficult and reduce the body's ability to absorb oxygen; and how negative ions help breathing and improve oxygen absorption. 

According to the latest information in the fields of medicine, biology and meteorology, it can be definitively established that atmospheric ions have a biological effect.

Atmospheric electrical factors are a component of our environment and we humans are clearly affected by electro-ionic microclimates to a far greater extent than previously imagined.

This finding acquires particular significance since, as a result of artificial air conditioning (e.g. atmospheric pollution, buildings, air-conditioning units, heating, electrical installations, plastics), civilized man spends 50-100% of his time in an unnaturally charged electroclimate.

In cities, in closed rooms and in cars, etc., the proportion of small negative ions in the atmosphere is markedly reduced compared with undisturbed nature.

Air conditioner manufacturers are designing new systems that increase negative ionization. The American Broadcasting Co. will equip its new 30 story New York City headquarters with ion control. Two national concerns, Philco and Emerson Electric, already have ion control air conditioning systems on the market. RCA, Westinghouse, General Electric and Carrier Corp. have similar products under study or development.

What comes out of the heating and cooling vents in any centrally heated or air-conditioned building is air that is not only low in total ions, but also has a heavy positive ion count when measured against the almost negligible quantity of negative ions.

It is because of the design of this duct work that some parts of a building may be more "uncomfortable" to work in then others. That depends on whether you're on the receiving end of air that has passed a particular section of duct work, where there is a sharp bend near the outlet - as the air is forced around bends and corners there is greater friction and a consequent increase in positive ions.

We still have much to learn about atmospheric ions . Negative Ions and Ozone Myths and Facts

Myth: "Ozone" and "Negative ions" refer to the same thing.

Fact: Not so. They are very different.

A negative ion is an oxygen atom with an extra electron. It is odorless.

Ozone is an oxygen molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms. You can smell ozone if the concentration is high enough.

Myth: Ozone and negative ions perform exactly the same functions in purifying the air.

Fact: The functions they perform are as different as night and day. Sometimes both are needed to purify the air we breathe.

Negative ions rid the air of pollen, dust, etc.: stuff you can see under a microscope. Ozone cannot. Negative ions also can improve mood. Ozone cannot do that, either. Ozone gets rid of odors, pollutants, etc.; stuff at the molecular level (although negative ions can get rid of some odors, too.)

Myth: Negative ions are nothing more than ordinary static electricity.

Fact: That is a falsehood. Is there static electricity near waterfalls or other areas where negative ions are naturally generated? Of course not. Although some ionizers can induce a 'static' charge on nearby objects under certain conditions, negative ions flow through the air like electricity through a semiconductor.

Myth: Negative ions can go through walls.

Fact: No way. Neither can ozone, although ozone (if present) can go through heating and cooling ductwork. Negative ions generally cannot; they are attracted to the filter, air conditioner evaporator coil (A-coil), and very few emerge at furnace or air conditioning vents. The exception is properly designed and placed UV lamps, although they do not put as many negative ions into the room as a good room ionizer.

Myth: Too high a level of negative ions in the room is bad for you.

Fact: Negative ions have not been found to be harmful even in very high concentrations. Just the opposite has been found the case. In fact, there are patents using high-density negative ions to treat depression.

Myth: Ozone is ALWAYS a bad thing.

Fact: While ozone in extremely high concentrations is a toxic gas, if the ozone level is properly selected, the ozone and the pollutants/odors in the air CANCEL EACH OTHER. Overlooking this fact is the cause of the ozone controversy we sometimes see. What is more, a little ozone is often far preferable to the toxic gases and pollutants it can eliminate from the air we breathe.

REFERENCES :

·        WHO Air quality guidelines - 2005 global update

·        WHO Global Health Observatory

Recent data on air quality.

·        Air pollution and cancer: IARC’s 2013 assessment

·        Review of evidence on the health aspects of air pollution

·        Health in the green economy – series

·        Measuring health gains from sustainable development

·        WHO's work on indoor air pollution and health

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