Air Pollution

Abstract

Ambient community air pollution has long been at the forefront of environmental health concerns. It is high on the list of “outrage factor” complaints because the right to breathe healthy air is considered sacred, and the public discerns little individual control over air quality. Air pollution is defined as foreign substances in the air which have an adverse effect on human health, animals or plants, or are damaging to property. As we shall see, the association between air pollution and human health is often unclear for the same reasons that the relationship between the environment and human health in general is unclear, as discussed in Chapter 1: few direct, acute effects and uncertain long-term, chronic effects.