Fear of plastic waste, but do you ignore what you breathe every day?

Recently, 'green living' is becoming a new trend, but is it only enough to care for green waste?

Recently, the phrase 'air pollution' is often referred to as a global problem that many countries are facing, besides concerns about environmental pollution caused by plastic waste.

Plastic waste is not the only problem

According to a report published in 2017 in ScienceAdvances magazine, the world has produced about 8.3 billion tons of plastic. Two-thirds of that total is currently garbage, mostly in landfills or in natural environments, leading to increased levels of pollution.

In The Guardian's report, British scientists have warned that the ability to decompose and excessive amounts of plastic waste will end the geological era on Earth, turning to a completely new page.

We usually only spend about 10 minutes (or less) when using a nylon bag, but it takes 10 to 1,000 years to decompose itself.

Plastic is also a major agent causing global air pollution disaster through burning process. According to WHO statistics, each person eats about 1.3 kg of food, drinks 1.2 kg of water but breathes up to 18 kg of air every day, plus the amount of polluted dust surrounding the body, accumulating all over skin surface set.

Plastic waste is really scary, but it seems that we are neglecting another factor that is also 'invading' life, causing incalculable consequences. That is air pollution, especially fine dust pollution PM2.5 .

This is also the reason the UN chose the theme 'Air pollution is the focus' for World Environment Day 2019, after the 'hot' theme of 2018 on combating plastic waste pollution that has been responded and strong spread.

WHO organizes fine dust as the No. 1 carcinogen in the world.

According to research data in the European Heart Journal, 8.8 million people die each year from air pollution. Thus, the most normal activity that can be inhaled is more fatal than smoking - the reason for the death of 7.2 million people in the world by 2015 (according to WHO) and 6 times higher. number of deaths due to AIDS (about 1.2 million people).

In Vietnam, according to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the Global Conference on Air and Health Pollution in 2018, more than 60,000 people died from related diseases of pollution. gas in 2016. A series of localities from urban to rural areas are in serious air pollution due to high dust density.

Fine dust PM2.5 and the untold story

WHO data for 2018 shows that 9 out of 10 people must breathe the air containing high levels of contaminants. In particular, about 10% of children under 5 years of age die from respiratory infections, which is the second leading cause of death in this age group, only after premature birth.The main reason is due to PM2.5 dust.

With a very small size of just 1/30 of human hair, fine dust can penetrate layers of fabric and masks. This dust is also high in lead and heavy metals, so bronchial cannot be filtered. Therefore, they can go straight into the circulatory system, leading to impaired lung function, making heart disease and asthma worse, even sowing cancer germs.

Not stopping there, PM2.5 dust can also go into blood vessels and move throughout the body to damage other organs. For example, PM2.5 dust promotes cirrhosis and increases the risk of liver dysfunction, causing insulin resistance , contributing to the development of diabetes.

Stroke is also inevitable when PM2.5 dust breaks down fatty deposits in blood vessel walls, causing blood clots to stop blood from flowing to the heart and brain. The most serious is that fine dust can affect the nervous system (according to an American study published in 2015).

In addition, fine dust PM2.5 also clogs pores , makes skin more sensitive, increases skin pigmentation, leading to many signs of premature aging.

Therefore, sensitive subjects such as children, the elderly, pregnant women who work outdoors, regularly operate in hazardous environments, polluted, living near industrial areas should be cautious. Complicated from fine dust.

The quality of life and human health is decreasing in the face of environmental pollution. In addition to plastic waste, proactively finding a protection option against passive fine dust exposures should also be considered as a top concern.

1. PM2.5 fine dust pollution: Invisible killer
2. Dangerous when fine dust goes straight into the lungs, what to do to clean the lungs today?