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How Car Pollution Effects Your Health?

Everyone knows that it is scientifically proven that car pollution is bad for the environment and your health. In some of the most populated cities in the world, car pollution is at record highs. Most scientists and doctors are saying that some of the levels are so high that people shouldn’t leave their house without protective gear. Moreover, pollution from car exhaust can cause short term health affects like shortness of breath and coughing; and long term effects, like asthma, heart and lung disease. Car pollution is also said to cost billions of dollars a year in low worker productivity due to respiratory complications and healthcare costs.

One of the biggest contributors to air pollution is car exhaust. While the exhaust is warming up our planet with higher levels of greenhouse gasses, which have been causing more extreme weather conditions on our planet, it is also directly affecting our health too. Car exhaust contains many different chemicals and emissions that are a direct result of burning the fuel in our cars. These fumes include carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, lead and tiny suspended particles. For people who live in cities that are more densely populated, these particles can have devastating effects to our respiratory system and our bodies.

Another chemical that is released is called Benzene, which studies have shown can cause cancer. It can also limit our body’s natural ability to fight off illness and disease, due to the fact that it can lessen our immune system. One of the biggest forms of cancer caused by car pollution is leukemia and lung disease. Many of the polycyclic hydrocarbons that are released are known to have the ability to cause genetic mutations, which can cause the development of enlarged lymph nodes and tumors.

Car pollution can cause other problems too, like impaired memory. Air pollution caused by car fumes can have an extremely negative impact on our central nervous system. Studies have shown that the lead released from car exhaust fumes can impair mental function. Studies have also shown that with long term exposure to exhaust these problems will only get worse.

The pollution from car exhaust can also cause problems with our blood. The levels of carbon monoxide that are released impair our body’s ability to produce red blood cells. This can have devastating effects on the way our blood circulates and over time can cause anemia, marrow loss, heart disease and even death.

In the end, the toxic fumes from car exhaust can have devastating effects on our environments and our health. There are many things we can do to combat these rising levels of air pollution from our vehicles, like purchasing cleaner energy cars – either hybrids or full electric. Many times you can research different auto insurance rates and incentives for purchasing a greener car (check out AutoInsuranceCenter.com). Reducing air pollution from car exhaust will be a long process, but if our different communities each take turns to make a difference, in the coming years we could see the numbers drastically reduced, which will protect our health and our environment for future generations.