The gist of the scientific studies and the clinical evidence can be summed up briefly: Air pollution is related to human sickness and sometimes to premature death; people of both sexes and all ages can be affected, but the danger is greatest for the very old, the very young, and people already sick with certain chronic ailments.

Air pollution probably causes and certainly aggravates all these conditions:

• Diseases of the respiratory (breathing) system: nose, sinuses, throat, bronchial tubes, and lungs. All these organs have direct contact with inhaled air.
• Diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Pollutants can pass through the lung membranes into the blood.
• Cancer, especially of the lungs. Airborne cancer-causing agents can enter the body through the skin as well as the lungs and be carried by the blood to any organ.
• Skin diseases, allergies, eye irritation.

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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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