Friday, October 18, 2013

Is there Cancer in the Air?

Article Link http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/us-cancer-pollution-idUSBRE99G0BB20131017

The article “Air pollution a leading cause of cancer- U.N. agency” by both Kate Kelland and Stephanie Nebehay provides a look on how humans are getting cancer as a result of air pollution which we as humans are causing. This article from Reuters was published on Thursday October 17th, 2013 at 11:40 EDT.


On Thursday the World Health Organization declared that the air contains substances that are classified as carcinogenic (having potential to cause cancer) to humans. Everyday things people use such as transport, power generation, the heating of homes and cooking, and other things like industrial emissions contribute to air pollution. By doing all of these things we are just contributing to the increased rate of lung cancer due to this air pollution. It seems pretty stupid because this is self-inflicted and we are just hurting each other.
 

Countries with rapid industrialization like China are the main points where air pollution is at its highest. There was a higher exposure in Asia, South Asia, North Africa, Central America and Mexico and sadly, eastern North America. However don’t think people will be guaranteed to get lung cancer if they are living in these areas because it’s only an increased risk, not a sure thing.


Air pollution has been proven to be a leading environmental cause of deaths as a result of cancer. The authors had written, “The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution,” That means that only three years ago 223,000 people died because of the cancer caused by air pollution. Now after three more years of industrializing and constantly polluting the air we breathe in day in and day out will just increase this death toll. It’s actually sad to think that we are killing people by doing these things we thought would never be able to harm anyone.


This article reminded me of the movie we watched in class, “The Lorax” because that movie had shown the effects of environmental pollution. In the movie the air pollution from industries had driven out the birds because the air was unsafe and would harm the birds. I had done a project on the multiple forms of pollution and air pollution was one of the largest forms and there were many ways in which people had contributed to it. It was a leading cause of Global Warming and the effects were shocking because it contributed to many increased risks of illnesses and diseases.


I think this article provided me with an eye-opening look at one of the deadly effects of air pollution. I believe we could do many things to lower this risk such as biking instead of driving and using electricity instead of gas and oil for energy sources. I would like to know how we can prevent these deaths from happening and if there is a way to filter out the pollutants. One of the things I really would like to know is where are the places with the highest concentration of pollutants? This article is also pretty nerve racking because now I am conscious of the fact that I could be breathing in the pollutants that gives me an increased risk of obtaining lung cancer. This article just provides a realistic look at how bad air pollution can get.

8 comments:

  1. To start off the piece he wrote was great and the title really caught my attention because cancer is such a serious subject that is affecting many people. His summary was great. It gave me the links and the people who wrote it and fit all the criteria. I could really hear his voice throughout the piece mostly that he was shocked and scared that this pollution is near where we live. He made two great connections to science. One was the Lorax video and the other was a project he did about pollution. And last but not least it looked like he read over it and there was no grammatical mistakes. Overall I would give this piece an A because it really taught me about the subject and made me think about what our nation can do to fix it.

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  2. I really like your title because it immediately caught my attention and made me want to read more. I thought the summary of the article was very well written and gave a good over view on the important ideas. I also liked how you added specific facts in to show just how extreme this is. You talked about some ways to reduce pollution like riding bikes instead of driving cars but do you think people would really do that? Are there any other ways to reduce pollution?

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  3. I found this to be very interesting. To start it off I was very surprised just by reading your title and it made me want to read what you had to say. I never really thought that polluting the air not only causes global warming in some ways but also increases your chances of getting lung cancer as well. I was wondering what you think heavily polluting countries like China should do to reduce this problems. Since this could lead to many problems in the future. I also liked how you connected it to the Lorax which it somewhat seems like. Overall you did a very good job informing me on the subject in a very well written way.

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  4. Your title was intriguing, and obviously relates well to the article. Although the article was credible, I feel that more data about airborne carcinogens would have been more convincing that it is still a large problem. For instance, if there was another, more recent data set, and there was an increase in the death rate of cancer caused by air pollution, I would have felt that it is an important problem in our lives. Despite being well thought out, I found your blogpost to be a bit choppy. There were a few grammatical errors, as well. I enjoyed that you made connections to material from class, which made the subject relatable. You clearly expressed your opinions, most of which I agree with. Overall, good article and the blogpost was obviously well thought out, despite a few grammatical errors.

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  5. The title was very eye catching, along with the picture. I thought your article used great examples to how and why air pollution can cause lung cancer. It also used a lot of good vocabulary. I was very surprised on how air pollution can hurt humans. I liked how you added questions about the article you read and added some ideas on how to reduce air pollution. I thought your article was overall well written and included a lot of information about the topic.

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  6. I think you did a nice job with the title causing the necessary shock to make someone read this. You relating it to the Lorax made it easier to show just how extreme our air pollution could get. Did it say in the article what types of cancer the air pollution causes? Good job!

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  7. I really liked your title, it really drew me in. I always thought that cancer was just caused from some white blood cells in your body, I never thought that you could get cancer from the polutants in the air. I also liked how you connected this article to the "Lorax" and I agree with you on how it is very similar the "Lorax" and how the air was getting very polluted by all the factories. You put a lot of good information in this article. Great Job!

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  8. Your title really caught my attention and made me want to read your post. I think the article you wrote about is extremely interesting. I never knew that air pollution could have such a serious effect on our health, such as putting us at a higher risk for cancer. Your summary was very detailed and gave me a good understanding of the basis of the article. I really liked your connection to "The Lorax" since it is something that we all watched in class, so we're all able to connect. I thought you also did a fantastic job giving some ideas that may be able to reduce the risk of cancer due to air pollution, like riding your bike instead of driving. Great job, Troy!

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