How bad ecology gives impetus to oncology. environmental diseases. How dangerous is life in a big city?

Sometimes the cause of health problems is poor ecology. We will tell you today what diseases the polluted environment is guilty of and how to minimize the risk of infection.

State of the environment: general analyzes

The World Health Organization has been monitoring the level of environmental pollution for several decades, because the environmental factor in health care is one of the most important.

According to the latest WHO report, a little more than a third of diseases in children under five years of age are caused by poor environmental conditions. The same report states that about 40% of cases of malaria and almost 100% of dysentery diseases are caused by adverse natural factors. Almost every year, a considerable number of patients die due to environmental problems, the appearance of which can be prevented.

More than a hundred experts did for WHO, carefully studying the literature and scientific research data of recent years, which were devoted to the environmental situation on our planet, as well as the epidemiological situation in each region.

Unfortunately, unsatisfactory indicators of the state of the environment haunt a person almost constantly - pollution of the earth, water, air. Moreover, the danger can sometimes be hidden even in the furniture and building materials from which the house is made.

The main culprits of air pollution are cars, plants and factories (especially those producing mineral fertilizers, building materials, paint and varnish products).

Dirty air can provoke the development of diseases such as:

oncological diseases;
respiratory problems;
diseases of the nervous system;
circulatory problems.

The main provocateurs of the development of dirty air diseases in the city are cars equipped with internal combustion engines. Just they are the main producers of fumes, the molecules of which prevent the binding of oxygen to hemoglobin. Regular inhalation of polluted city air leads to a decrease in mental abilities, a slowdown in basic reflexes, the appearance of headaches and dizziness.

Chad is not the only harmful product of gasoline refining. Together with it, about two dozen toxic substances harmful to the body enter the environment. Some of them can accumulate in the tissues of the body, provoking certain signs of the disease. For example, scientists have found that the level of cadmium in the body of urban residents is much higher than that of the inhabitants of agricultural areas. And a high concentration of this element in the body in two to three decades can cause the development of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, as well as the appearance of signs of kidney disease. Some substances that enter the human environment with exhaust gases also have a carcinogenic effect, that is, they can contribute to the onset of symptoms of an oncological disease.

Dirty water and disease symptoms

In some cases, signs of a disease of one kind or another appear after dirty water enters the body. The main culprits of its pollution are industrial enterprises and sewerage facilities, from which sewage can get into fresh and salt water.

Dirty water can cause diseases:

oncological character;
of cardio-vascular system;
kidneys, as well as the liver;
organs of the digestive system, as well as various gene mutations.

According to the results of WHO studies, water can contain more than twelve thousand substances, in particular, some heavy metals that can have a negative effect on the human body. The harmful effects of these substances can provoke symptoms of a disease of the nervous system, and this, in turn, can sometimes cause the development of polyneuritis and diseases of the organs of vision.

Radioactive substances contained in water can also be responsible for the development of cancer, problems with immunity, as well as congenital malformations of physical development.

Bacteria living in water are no less dangerous to the human body. Pathogenic microorganisms are equally capable of causing infectious diseases of the liver, digestive organs, heart, blood vessels and other organs.

Contaminated food and signs of illness

The main reason for the ingress of toxic substances (pesticides, nitrates) into contaminated soil is becoming. In addition, it is known that in agriculture, all kinds of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides) are massively used to protect against weeds and pests, which, after spraying plants, enter the soil, and then into agricultural production.

Contaminated food can cause the development of:

oncological disease;
infectious pathologies;
cardiovascular diseases;
diseases of the liver and gallbladder;
renal pathologies.

In addition, in the production of meat and dairy products, the use of preservatives, nitrites, dyes, antibiotics and other chemical compounds is practiced, which improves the taste of the finished product and increases its shelf life. All kinds of chemical compounds, some of which can seriously harm the body, are also used in the process of making canned food and semi-finished products.

Diseases that lie in wait at home

Perhaps one of the most serious problems of our time is the use of low-quality building materials that release volatile chemical compounds into the atmosphere. For example, some harmful substances can be released during the aging of plastic products and linoleum, as well as furniture made from non-natural materials.

In addition, in every home you can find washing powder and other household chemicals that contain surfactants (surfactants). Too frequent interaction with these components can provoke symptoms of diseases of internal organs (heart, lungs, organs of the excretory system), impaired immunity, and increase the likelihood of developing oncological ailments.

The cause of every fourth death of a person on Earth is a polluted environment. Such data was published in a new voluminous report World Health Organization .

This is the first significant document since 2006 containing information on environmental risks to human health, according to The Guardian.

According to an international organization, adverse environmental factors cause more than 100 of the most dangerous diseases in the world, which annually kill 12.6 million people. All this makes up 23% of all deaths that occur in the world.

Two-thirds of these (820 million) are caused by non-contact diseases such as cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease, which have increased substantially over the past 10 years.

While deaths from infectious diseases, including diarrhea and malaria, have declined since 2006, diseases caused by outdoor and indoor air pollution, climate change and exposure to synthetic chemicals have risen significantly.

The two biggest "environmental" killers are heart attacks and strokes (2.5 million a year), heart disease (2.3 million) and cancer (1.7 million), respiratory disease (1.4 million) and diarrhea (846 thousand). By comparison, cars on the roads kill 1.7 million people every year.

“A healthy environment is the foundation for public health. If countries don't take action to create a safe environment where people work and live, millions will get sick and die too young,” said Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO.

The WHO report says that many deaths are linked to poverty and rapid urbanization amid deteriorating air quality - both outdoors and indoors. So, according to a recent research international team of scientists, dirty air alone kills 5.5 million people every year around the world.

“Air quality is deteriorating in many low- and middle-income cities. Further air pollution will cause an increase in non-contact diseases, but children under 5 years of age also suffer more from respiratory infections,” the report says.

“Modern risks, in particular, pervasive air pollution, uncontrolled and dangerous use of chemicals, are booming, while control over these factors will be improved only when the country has gone all the way to a high-income society,” its authors emphasize.

The greatest risk of poor ecology is for children under 5 years old and the elderly aged 50 to 75 years.

Men are more likely to suffer from risk factors in the workplace and from injuries. For women, traditional risk factors are smoke from burning solid fuels, including cooking or fetching water.

Rapid industrialization and air pollution in China, India, and Southeast Asia and the Pacific is the leading cause of death and disease among locals. Industrial production, urbanization and car use have put these regions at the top of the polluted countries list with 7.3 million deaths per year.

In the European Region, 1.4 million people die each year from environmental hazards.

Cancer is the leading cause of death today. It kills 20% of the world's population. According to WHO forecasts, in industrialized countries, a third of the population will face some form of cancer. About 19% of all types of cancer are caused by a dirty environment. At the same time, about 18% of all heart diseases are associated with polluted air.

"In general, the number of "environmental" deaths has not changed since 2002, but the proportion of non-contact diseases has increased," the authors of the WHO report conclude. They also note that diarrhea remains one of the leading causes of child mortality, causing 20% of all deaths before the age of five.

Recall that it was previously reported that Greenpeace published a report about the consequences of the nuclear disasters of Fukushima and Chernobyl.

It is believed that oncological diseases are associated with lifestyle (malnutrition, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol abuse, etc.) and ecology. Now scientists continue to deal with this issue and conduct a huge amount of research, almost daily there are new facts about the development of cancerous tumors. Recently, American researchers have stated that the development of malignant tumors has no connection with heredity, ecology, or the way of life that a person leads, i.e. cancer in most cases appears spontaneously, without specific causes. A group of specialists have already reported their discovery to a number of scientific publications.

According to the researchers, the formation of a malignant tumor in the body occurs when cells divide incorrectly, which in most cases begins by chance. During the work, scientists studied more than 30 types of tumors, as a result, it was found that the process of cell division was not influenced by external or genetic factors. Heredity was revealed only in 1/3 of all cases, in the rest the tumor began to develop spontaneously, without any special reasons. In addition, a sufficient number of cases are known in medicine when cancer was diagnosed in healthy people without bad habits.

Also, the assertion that frequent stress can provoke the growth of a cancerous tumor has not been confirmed. Previously, it was believed that constant nervous strain and stress is one of the main causes of cancer, but a new study has refuted this opinion.

But, despite their findings, scientists continue to argue that improving the quality of life and the environment will reduce the incidence among the population.

Also, many scientists called radiation one of the causes of cancer. In particular, radon, which is present in bricks and concrete used in the construction of buildings, can be a source of harmful radiation; while in such buildings, a person is exposed to constant radiation, and this in turn leads to disruption of the cell division process.

Swedish experts in their new research have found that there is a connection between human growth and the development of oncology - tall people are more susceptible to the development of malignant neoplasms, compared with short peers.

According to the Swedish theory, the risk of developing cancer increases by almost 20% with every 10 cm of growth.

According to the experts themselves, this phenomenon can be explained by the fact that tall people have more cells in the body, in addition, very rarely cancer was diagnosed in people with genetic dwarfism.

The environmental situation in our country remains extremely alarming and is accompanied by a deterioration in the main indicators of public health, including the health of young children, an increase in mortality and a decrease in life expectancy. Suffice it to say that at present more than 100 large cities and regions of the country are characterized by an unfavorable environmental situation for human health. The population living in medium and small cities of Russia, which are distinguished by no less backward production technologies and urban planning policy, and the population of agricultural territories, where the uncontrolled use of various pesticides and feed additives has become rampant. Nevertheless, in the development of policies and plans for the economic development of regions, insufficient attention is still paid to the impact of the environment on human health.

A person's life is only full when he receives joy from being on earth. A sick person concentrates only on the problems of his body and absolutely loses interest in the world around him. At present, in an unstable economic environment, health is also becoming a major economic force. A sick person cannot work and earn normally. A very difficult demographic situation has developed in our country, which is close to critical:

· increased infant mortality (we have it 3 times higher than in Europe);

· life expectancy has decreased, including for men up to 57-58 years, which is 15 years less than in Europe.

The life of modern human society is constantly accompanied by obvious, and most often hidden effects of various potentially harmful factors, including numerous chemicals. The threat to human health and well-being associated with such adverse effects is today a growing concern among both the medical community and the general population and the government, which, in turn, seek help from scientists and specialists, which increases the responsibility of the latter. when disseminating information about the true scale and levels of environmental danger.

The technogenic urban environment has a profound impact on the main social quality of a person - his health in the broad sense of the word. Factors such as pollution of the atmosphere and water by emissions from industry and transport, electromagnetic fields, vibration and noise, chemicalization of everyday life, as well as the flow of redundant information, an excessive number of social problems, lack of time, physical inactivity, emotional overload, malnutrition, bad habits, - in one way or another and in various combinations, they become somatotropic and psychotropic factors in the etiology of numerous pre-nosological conditions, and then diseases.

High concentrations of pollutants in various components of the environment have led to the emergence of so-called "environmental diseases". Among them are described:

chemical asthma;

Kirishi syndrome (severe allergy associated with emissions from the production of protein-vitamin concentrates);

Ticker syndrome, which develops in children in the areas of oil refineries;

General immune depression during intoxication with heavy metals, dioxides, etc.;

Yushko's disease associated with the effect of polychlorinated biphenyls on the child's body;

A disease appeared in the Urals, called "potato disease" (a symptom of "squishy foot");

A disease called "yellow children" has been discovered in the Altai Territory.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the quality of the environment determines 20% of the risk of diseases in the population. However, this figure is very conditional and, moreover, does not reflect the assessment of the risk of morbidity in the administrative districts. For this assessment, a concept of social and hygienic monitoring should be developed, including the climatic features of the territory. An analysis of the impact of the environmental situation within the entire city on the incidence of the population requires a separate development with the participation of specialists from research institutes, the sanitary and epidemiological service and organizations that monitor the state of the environment.

The implementation of the principles of sustainable development as a priority task involves ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens to a healthy and favorable environment, as well as providing the population with the necessary environmental information.

01 May 2013

It's no secret that a bad environmental situation causes various pathologies associated with the human body. In this article, we offer you to look at the most common and most dangerous pathologies that any citizen of large and not very cities may well get at any time.

Bronchial asthma. The true horror of any person who wants to live life calmly and without unpleasant "surprises". Bronchial asthma is manifested by respiratory failure, which in itself is a huge limitation in life. So, for example, jogging in cold weather will be almost impossible. In some cases, it will not be possible to load yourself even by jogging in comfortable conditions. During attacks, there is a risk of death, which also makes this pathology more than terrible.
Idiopathic allergic reactions. This is when there is an allergy to many foods. Today you drank coffee and broke out in a rash, tomorrow you ate a nut and began to choke, and the day after tomorrow you got anaphylactic shock during anesthesia at the dentist. The problem with this kind of allergy is that it is extremely difficult to cure and extremely difficult to live with. Antihistamines should always be on hand, and a person who can, if something happens, inject them either into a muscle or directly into a vein.
Dermatological chronic diseases. Perioral dermatitis, as well as seborrheic dermatitis, is far from all that can be caused by a rather poor environmental situation on the planet. But both of these dermatitis are extremely difficult to treat. Perioral dermatitis is not only difficult to treat, but also dangerous. For example, when it is used antibiotics of the tetracycline series. Their side effects often include toxic liver damage and photosensitivity, that is, a super-strong reaction to ordinary sunlight. Moreover, antibiotics are also dangerous as a direct drug. That is, they can cause an allergic reaction, up to the anaphylactic shock described above, which sometimes doctors in a hospital cannot stop with a complete set of equipment and various topical medicines.

These three are the most serious and frequent problems arising from the general poor state of the environment on the planet, and promising serious consequences for any person. Moreover, statistics stubbornly says that fifty years ago, such diseases were extremely rare, and only now they have become very common, which, quite obviously, is associated with the gradual deterioration of the environmental situation as a whole.