17.06.19
How Air Pollution Is Destroying Your Brain.
Just as air pollution impairs the lungs and reduces life expectancy, it also seems to harm the brain and cognition skills, especially among the elderly , according to a study newly published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, chronic exposure to air pollution appears to cause detrimental effects on cognition that get worse throughout life, potentially increasing risk factors for degenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's. As the study authors note, this could be making dealing with end-of-life brain illnesses even more expensive, and could ultimately make care for the elderly more complex for society. While physical health has long been thought the most common casualty of air pollution, the study is the first to link poor air quality to cognition and an increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. The results were especially alarming for developing countries where air pollution was ubiquitous, the researchers said. The top 20 most polluted cities are all in developing countries, according to the global air pollution database compiled by the World Health Organisation. Credit: THE YEARS PROJECT
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
