Cardiovascular Disease Is the Condition, Air Pollution the Risk Factor, Fossil Fuel Combustion the Cause

2022 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. e131
Author(s):  
Alan P. Jacobsen ◽  
Roger S. Blumenthal
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Fossil Fuel Combustion

scholarly journals The pyrohealth transition: how combustion emissions have shaped health through human history

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1696) ◽  
pp. 20150173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fay H. Johnston ◽  
Shannon Melody ◽  
David M. J. S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Tobacco Smoking ◽  
Burden Of Disease ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Fossil Fuel Combustion ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Combustion Emissions

Air pollution from landscape fires, domestic fires and fossil fuel combustion is recognized as the single most important global environmental risk factor for human mortality and is associated with a global burden of disease almost as large as that of tobacco smoking. The shift from a reliance on biomass to fossil fuels for powering economies, broadly described as the pyric transition, frames key patterns in human fire usage and landscape fire activity. These have produced distinct patters of human exposure to air pollution associated with the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions and post-industrial the Earth global system-wide changes increasingly known as the Anthropocene. Changes in patterns of human fertility, mortality and morbidity associated with economic development have been previously described in terms of demographic, epidemiological and nutrition transitions, yet these frameworks have not explicitly considered the direct consequences of combustion emissions for human health. To address this gap, we propose a pyrohealth transition and use data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) collaboration to compare direct mortality impacts of emissions from landscape fires, domestic fires, fossil fuel combustion and the global epidemic of tobacco smoking. Improving human health and reducing the environmental impacts on the Earth system will require a considerable reduction in biomass and fossil fuel combustion. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

scholarly journals Intense atmospheric pollution modifies weather: a case of mixed biomass burning with fossil fuel combustion pollution in eastern China

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 10545-10554 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Ding ◽  
C. B. Fu ◽  
X. Q. Yang ◽  
J. N. Sun ◽  
T. Petäjä ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Atmospheric Pollution ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Temperature Drop ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Fossil Fuel Combustion ◽  
Mixed Biomass

Abstract. The influence of air pollutants, especially aerosols, on regional and global climate has been widely investigated, but only a very limited number of studies report their impacts on everyday weather. In this work, we present for the first time direct (observational) evidence of a clear effect of how a mixed atmospheric pollution changes the weather with a substantial modification in the air temperature and rainfall. By using comprehensive measurements in Nanjing, China, we found that mixed agricultural burning plumes with fossil fuel combustion pollution resulted in a decrease in the solar radiation intensity by more than 70%, a decrease in the sensible heat by more than 85%, a temperature drop by almost 10 K, and a change in rainfall during both daytime and nighttime. Our results show clear air pollution–weather interactions, and quantify how air pollution affects weather via air pollution–boundary layer dynamics and aerosol–radiation–cloud feedbacks. This study highlights cross-disciplinary needs to investigate the environmental, weather and climate impacts of the mixed biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion sources in East China.

scholarly journals The Role of Fossil Fuel Combustion Metals in PM2.5 Air Pollution Health Associations

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1086
Author(s):  
Polina Maciejczyk ◽  
Lung-Chi Chen ◽  
George Thurston
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Transition Metals ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Fossil Fuel Combustion ◽  
Adverse Health Effects

In this review, we elucidate the central role played by fossil fuel combustion in the health-related effects that have been associated with inhalation of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We especially focus on individual properties and concentrations of metals commonly found in PM air pollution, as well as their sources and their adverse health effects, based on both epidemiologic and toxicological evidence. It is known that transition metals, such as Ni, V, Fe, and Cu, are highly capable of participating in redox reactions that produce oxidative stress. Therefore, particles that are enriched, per unit mass, in these metals, such as those from fossil fuel combustion, can have greater potential to produce health effects than other ambient particulate matter. Moreover, fossil fuel combustion particles also contain varying amounts of sulfur, and the acidic nature of the resulting sulfur compounds in particulate matter (e.g., as ammonium sulfate, ammonium bisulfate, or sulfuric acid) makes transition metals in particles more bioavailable, greatly enhancing the potential of fossil fuel combustion PM2.5 to cause oxidative stress and systemic health effects in the human body. In general, there is a need to further recognize particulate matter air pollution mass as a complex source-driven mixture, in order to more effectively quantify and regulate particle air pollution exposure health risks.

scholarly journals Intense atmospheric pollution modifies weather: a~case of mixed biomass burning with fossil fuel combustion pollution in the eastern China

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 14377-14403 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Ding ◽  
C. B. Fu ◽  
X. Q. Yang ◽  
J. N. Sun ◽  
T. Petäjä ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Atmospheric Pollution ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Temperature Drop ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Fossil Fuel Combustion ◽  
Mixed Biomass

Abstract. The influence of air pollutants, particularly aerosols, on regional and global climate is widely investigated, but only a very limited number of studies reports their impacts on everyday weather. In this work, we present for the first time direct (observational) evidence of a clear effect how a mixed atmospheric pollution changes the weather with a substantial modification in air temperature and rainfall. By using comprehensive measurements in Nanjing, China, we found that mixed agricultural burning plumes with fossil fuel combustion pollution resulted in a decrease of solar radiation by more than 70%, of sensible heat flux over 85%, a temperature drop by almost 10 K, and a change of rainfall during daytime and nighttime. Our results show clear air pollution – weather interactions, and quantify how air pollution affects weather with the influence of air pollution-boundary layer dynamics and aerosol-radiation-cloudy feedbacks. This study highlights a cross-disciplinary needs to study the environmental, weather and climate impact of the mixed biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion sources in the East China.

scholarly journals Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associations with biomass- and fossil-fuel-combustion fine-particulate-matter exposures in Dhaka, Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Mostafijur Rahman ◽  
Bilkis A Begum ◽  
Philip K Hopke ◽  
Kamrun Nahar ◽  
Jonathan Newman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Fuel Combustion ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Biomass Combustion ◽  
Fossil Fuel Combustion ◽  
Cardiovascular Morbidity And Mortality

Abstract Background Fine-particulate-matter (i.e. with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 µm, PM2.5) air pollution is commonly treated as if it had ‘equivalent toxicity’, irrespective of the source and composition. We investigate the respective roles of fossil-fuel- and biomass-combustion particles in the PM2.5 relationship with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality using tracers of sources in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results provide insight into the often observed levelling of the PM2.5 exposure–response curve at high-pollution levels. Methods A time-series regression model, adjusted for potentially confounding influences, was applied to 340 758 cardiovascular disease (CVD) emergency-department visits (EDVs) during January 2014 to December 2017, 253 407 hospital admissions during September 2013 to December 2017 and 16 858 CVD deaths during January 2014 to October 2017. Results Significant associations were confirmed between PM2.5-mass exposures and increased risk of cardiovascular EDV [0.27%, (0.07% to 0.47%)] at lag-0, hospitalizations [0.32% (0.08% to 0.55%)] at lag-0 and deaths [0.87%, (0.27% to 1.47%)] at lag-1 per 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5. However, the relationship of PM2.5 with morbidity and mortality effect slopes was less steep and non-significant at higher PM2.5 concentrations (during crop-burning-dominated exposures) and varied with PM2.5 source. Fossil-fuel-combustion PM2.5 had roughly a four times greater effect on CVD mortality and double the effect on CVD hospital admissions on a per-µg/m3 basis than did biomass-combustion PM2.5. Conclusion Biomass burning was responsible for most PM2.5 air pollution in Dhaka, but fossil-fuel-combustion PM2.5 dominated the CVD adverse health impacts. Such by-source variations in the health impacts of PM2.5 should be considered in conducting ambient particulate-matter risk assessments, as well as in prioritizing air-pollution-mitigation measures and clinical advice.

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