Impact of Air Pollution on Public Health

Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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PUBLIC HEALTH
An air pollution problem in Canadian community
A cloud of toxic particles suspended in the air above the oil sands of Alberta is one of the
most potential sources of air pollution in Canada (NRDC, 2014). The situation is so alarming
that it often exceeds the total amount of emission in Canada’s largest city.
Sources of the air pollution
It has been found by the researchers that the oil sands generate secondary organic
aerosols. This class of aerosol is poorly understood as an air pollutant or how it causes pollution.
Apart from the emission of the greenhouse gases released due to the bitumen extraction, there are
many other pollutants that are released due to the bitumen extraction process. Production of a
barrel of synthetic oil results in the formation of twice as much as sulphur oxides and nitrogen
oxides than a barrel of the conventional oils (Lynam et al., 2016). It has been measured by the
scientists, that the minute particles are formed as the vapours saturated with chemicals from the
mining and the processing of bitumen reacts with atmospheric oxygen and the altered to form
solid particles that can easily drift away with the winds. For a long time, the researchers were of
the viewpoint that the oil sands must have been the sources of air pollution and the case is of
concern to the communities who are living downwind Schindler, D. W. (2014)..
It has been found that high concentration of such pollutants pose serious health risks.
Some of them are carcinogens and mutagens that can cause damage to the DNA (Schindler,
2014). Surveys and studies have confirmed an elevated rates of leukaemia and other lymph
cancers in areas surrounding the petrochemical industries (Small et al., 2015). Other effects that