Posts Tagged ‘Air Pollution’

Green Environment - Keep Chemical Use to a Minimum

Friday, May 14th, 2010

This article is written and owned by Ian Pennington

Are you concerned about global warming? Does it concern you when you think about all the damage pollution can do to our environment? We can all play a part in keeping our environment green and healthy.

Recycling is one of the biggest projects we have taken upon ourselves in this country. In some cities, you can even get fined for throwing away your recyclables. It has become a habit to recycle, a way of life even. Most business’s even have recycle bins to keep plastic and aluminum separate from garbage.

But we must increase our efforts, and go beyond recycling. Check at green environment online go to learn some of the other steps you can take to stay green. We can do our part by using less water, turning the lights off when we leave a room, and keeping our heat down in the winter months, even if it means wearing a sweater to keep warm.

We can go one step further by keeping chemical use down to a bare minimum. Most foods and cooking equipment today are overloaded with chemicals. Our nation is so overrun with fast food, that we don’t even try to cut back on McDonald’s or Burger King. Sadly, we have gotten very spoiled with fast food. All we need is a little more information on the danger we are facing, and if we just read up on this danger at green environment online go, it could make a world of difference.

Replace all the light bulbs in your home with energy efficient bulbs. Today you can purchase light bulbs that give off a sufficient amount of light without wreaking havoc on the community and on your electric bill.

Even our furniture has chemicals in the stains and fabrics it’s made out of. Replace your wood bed frames with metal frames, which do not allow bugs or diseases to make a home in them. Replace your mattress that is loaded with chemicals with a good cotton filled mattress. Look for the go green environmental services logo before purchasing your mattress.

Our clothing is inundated with chemicals too. Our blankets and sheets, and even our pajamas are made from chemicals. So not only are we eating chemicals, but we’re breathing them in too. And on top of that, the laundry soap and shampoo we use everyday are full of chemicals. So we wash our clothes in chemicals, and lather up our hair with it. We can at least lower the chemical use by cutting back on our laundry soap and shampoo use, by using only half the amount you normally use, that would be of some help. Green environment online go can help you with useful information on all of these concerns, our planet is counting on you!

Ian Pennington is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about green environment online go [http://www.environmentalnewsonline.info/green-environment-online-go-keep-chemical-use-to-a-minimum], please visit Environmental News Online [http://www.environmentalnewsonline.info] for current articles and discussions.

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Franchise Opportunity to help you get the “green”

Air Pollution Hikes Stroke Risk

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

This article is written by Rita Jenkins

Ischemic stroke, which results when a blood clot travels to the brain, is more likely to occur on days when the air contains a larger concentration of particulate matter. The air pollution
in question includes particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter from car and truck exhaust, power plants and refineries. The final analysis demonstrated a 1.03 percent rise in ischemic stroke on the days with the highest pollution measures.
The type of stroke that results when a blood clot travels to the brain — called an ischemic stroke — is more likely to occur on days when the air contains a larger concentration of particulate matter, according to a study published online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined air quality on a total of 37,000 days in nine cities. Risk of hospitalization for ischemic stroke was 1 percent higher on days with relatively high levels of air pollution, compared with low-air pollution days, reports lead author Gregory Wellenius, ScD, postdoctoral fellow in cardiology at BIDMC.

Third Cause of Death in US”Although these effects sound relatively small,” says Wellenius, “given the large number of people exposed to air pollution and the large number of people at risk for stroke … the actual number of strokes could be significant.

“Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the US, affecting more than 700,000 individuals each year.

A “consistent increased risk” for cardiac health problems associated with exposure to ambient air particles was established in earlier research by Wellenius and coauthors Murray Mittleman, MD, DrPH, of BIDMC’s Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit and Joel Schwartz, PhD, of HSPH.

“Air pollution has been shown to trigger heart attacks and to aggravate the conditions of patients with congestive heart failure,” says Mittleman, who is also an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“These new findings, demonstrating that incidence of clot-based strokes also increase, [are] in keeping with our earlier data showing a relationship between air pollution and heart and lung disorders,” he notes.

The researchers also looked at the incidence of hemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding in the brain, during the same “high pollution” days, notes Wellenius, but found no association between the two.

Reducing Exposure May Lower RiskThe air pollution in question — particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter — includes particles from car and truck exhaust, power plants and refineries. The measurements were provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency from nine US cities: Birmingham, Ala., Chicago, New Haven, Conn., Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and Seattle.

The authors analyzed hospital admissions among a group of Medicare patients with an average age of 79. Seventy-five percent of the patients were white, and 61 percent were female. Their findings showed that during the course of their study, there were 155,503 hospital admissions for ischemic stroke.

The final analysis demonstrated a 1.

03 percent rise in ischemic stroke on the days with the highest pollution measures.

“We don’t know exactly what mechanisms are involved that trigger these cardiac events,” says Wellenius. “However, we do know that particulates in the air promote inflammation, which is a significant risk factor for cardiac events; that exposure to particulates can lead to changes in heart rate and blood pressure; and that pollution can cause changes in coaguable states (related to blood clotting abilities).”

The authors say that future research will focus on finding out which pollutants are most toxic, as well as which patients are at greatest risk for health problems stemming from air pollution.”

Taken together with previous work, these latest results support the idea that reducing exposure to particulate matter may reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacksFind Article,” they conclude.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rita Jenkins is a health journalist for Daily News Central, an online publication that delivers breaking news and reliable health information to consumers, healthcare providers and industry professionals: http://www.dailynewscentral.com