Car Exhaust Pollution: Health Risks and Environmental Impact

Car exhaust lingers in the air over cities worldwide, and its harmful effects are perhaps not surprising: Car exhaust contains hundreds of toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde, ozone and lead.

Significance

• The BBC (1999) reports that, each year, car exhaust accounts for 24,000 early deaths in the United Kingdom alone.

Function

• The toxic substances in car exhaust lodge in the lungs and pass to the bloodstream. The bloodstream circulates them to the body's vital organs, where they can, over time, do serious damage.

Effects

• According to the University of California at Los Angeles (2003), car exhaust causes both short-term and long-term effects: fatigue, headache and nausea in the short term; chronic lung disease, heart disease, behavioral changes, decreased mental functioning as well as cancer in the long term.

Considerations

• The University of California at Los Angeles (2003) states that professional drivers and workers at mines, farms, docks and garages are most at risk for the harmful effects of exhaust.

Prevention/Solution

• On the job, proper ventilation in buildings helps prevent the harmful effects of car exhaust. On the road, driving less helps improve overall air quality.