Chapter 2 Health Effects of Air Pollution

Abstract

This chapter discusses the health effects of air pollution. Any air pollution control program may not have any practical results until the mechanism of air pollution and its health effects are revealed by epidemiological studies. The first step of an epidemiological study of air pollution is to establish an association between pollutant exposures and health effects. In the postwar period there was an enormous increase in the population of Tokyo, and a vast amount of coal and gasoline was being consumed due to the increasing number of motor vehicles and, thus, the number of days with dense smog had begun to increase. Japan has seen no severe air pollution episodes similar to those seen in London in 1952 and in Donora in 1948. However, exception to this might be Tokyo–Yokohama asthma. Outbreak of this disease was felt during 1946 and 1949. Air pollution in the city of Yokkaichi was a major environmental problem, ranking with the Minamata disease and Itai-itai disease. This led to an epidemic of chronic obstructive lung disease including bronchial asthma (the Yokkaichi asthma). An abnormally high incidence of asthmatic disorders was observed in the polluted districts. Air pollution does not consist of a single pollutant but many different kinds of pollutants. The chapter discusses the health effects of NO 2 and some other types of air pollution.