There’s something in the air?
If we could actually see what we were breathing, many of us would never venture out again. Toxic air is one of the biggest threats to our health. Air pollution damages healthy lungs and makes problems worse for people living with a lung condition. Air pollution is linked to up to 36,000 deaths in England every year and costs society more than £20 billion. Two of the most dangerous pollutants are nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from vehicles and particulate matter (PM2.5) from vehicles, wood burning, industry, and farming.
Staying indoors is no better.
According to a study by Global Action Plan, indoor air pollution is 3.5 times worse than outdoor air pollution and at its peak can be up to 560 times higher.
Add to that the prevalence of COVID-19 and the air is a pit of pathogens, allergens, and pollutants.
Particulate matter and pathogens in the air
The air we breathe contains a mixture of solids and liquids, including carbon, chemicals, sulfates, nitrates, mineral dust, and water. This is known as particulate matter.
Some particles are more dangerous than others.
Particles such as dust, soot, dirt or smoke, are large or dark enough to be visible.
But the most damaging particles are minuscule particles, known as PM10 and PM2.5.
PM2.5 particles are invisible to the naked eye and small enough to pass through the lungs, into the bloodstream, and into your organs.
Generally, they come from the combustion of solid and liquid fuels, through power generation, domestic heating, and in-vehicle engines.
Exposure to PM2.5 can cause illnesses like asthma, COPD, coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, low birth weight, diabetes, and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’
Pathogens and Covid 19 virus
In the battle against COVID, the biggest threat is a transmission from inhaling airborne droplets, not from touching contaminated surfaces.
However counterintuitive it may seem these days, viruses represent minor threat compared to bacterial infections.
The bacterial infections that threaten us are not only transmitted through touch, but through the air.
In September 2020, The Lancet claimed that “the rise in multidrug-resistant bacterial infections that are undetected, undiagnosed, and increasingly untreatable threatens the health of people” globally.
Such infections claim at least 700,000 lives per year worldwide and are projected to cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050, costing the global economy US$100 trillion in lost productivity.
Antibiotics will stop working by the middle of the century and that will mean more people dying from contracting microbial infections than from cancer.
