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Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

IGCSE

Global Perspective
Research Paper 1

Climate Change

The effects of industrial pollution on human live

Singapore International School@DaNang


VN 227
Ngo Hong Chau
0013
Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013
Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

According to The World Health Organisation (WHO), 40 percent of the world's deaths are directly

attributable to industrial pollution annually (Pimentel et al, 2016). Different countries are now facing

different industrial problems due to this impacts. Recently, more than 100 million people were

suffered from water, air and land pollution (Conserve Energy Future, 2016). The rapid growth of

industrial pollution is threatening the lives of humans and is a serious problem which has to be

brought under control immediately.

Industrial pollution is the release of wastes produced by industrial activities into the natural

environment including air, water and land. Common pollutants contain carbon monoxide,

formaldehyde, mercury and lead. This dangerous waste, by-products of manufacturing, enters the

natural resources and risks health and lives. Human disease is a direct impact of industrial pollution.

(West, 2016)

There are some main causes of industrial pollution. Firstly, toxic chemicals used by industries in

processing and manufacturing are the biggest cause. These substances released into the environment

cause a threat to human health. Industrial facilities around the world contain 25 million tons of toxic

chemical as factory wastes and pollution (Madaan, 2017). Secondly, industrial products such as

plastic, car parts and chemical utilities such as paint and cleaning solvents created for human

consumptions also cause of pollution. These consumer products include a lot of poisonous substance

like carbon monoxide which causes dangerous impacts on the human health and life. Thirdly,

hazardous waste streams also cause the most severe health problems in human. The chemical

elements that are defined in term of reactivity and toxicity release to the ocean and river and pollute

the environment. According to World Health Organization, "Over a billion people in the world lack

access to safe drinking water and over 600 million are exposed to ambient levels of sulphur dioxide

that well exceed recommended levels." (WHO, 2016). Local people using the water supply from

rivers or ponds are poisoned with dangerous health problems leading to death such as heart and lungs

disease, skin disease and general weakness.


Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

Due to the early development of technology, the industrial revolution occurred in the 20 th century

which lead to the beginning of industrial pollution. The growing of factories such as power stations,

sewage treatment plants, and glass smelting among other production, processing and manufacturing

companies are the contributors to industrial pollution which causes a huge threat on human life. In the

1952s, the pollutant, from factories and home fireplaces mixed together killed more than four

thousand people in London. A few year earlier, in 1948, severe air pollution created the poisonous

smog which threated 20 people in Pennsylvania and made 7,000 more sick (History.com Staff, 2009).

Recently, according to UNESCO, as much as 70 percent of industrial waste in the developing world is

just dumped into rivers and lakes without being treated. Specifically, according to Greenpeace, 70

percent of China's lakes and rivers are now polluted from industrial waste, leaving 300 million people

forced to rely on polluted water supplies' (Water.org, 2007).

Factory industry influences a lot of serious effects to the environment including water, air and soil. In

most cases, water is contaminated with dangerous chemicals, radioactive materials, or organic sludge.

For manufacturing, industries demand lots of water for efficient for cooling or treatment. During the

production, the waste water will release directly into ocean and negatively impacts on marine life,

environment, and especially human health. From air pollution, gases producing from factories such as

carbon dioxide, sulphur and nitrogen went too much into the atmosphere and frequently resulted in

several illnesses and environment hazards. This can lead to the most serious issues such as acid rain,

and the presence of smog, causing the threat of respiratory disorders among humans. Apart from that,

the toxic chemicals in poisoned soils accumulate in plants grown in such area causing health problems

to people who consume such crop, agriculture.

Industrial pollution is one of the biggest killers, affecting more than 100 million worldwide. Just from

the research of water pollution, more than 1 billion people worldwide don't have access to safe

drinking water. Day to day, they rely on the poisonous lake and ocean to get water supplies.

Therefore, 5000 people around the world die every day as a result of drinking water (West, 2017).

Moreover, air pollution is also defined as the most serious issue to people health. The World Health

Organization (WHO) said that outdoor air pollution constitutes 2% of all lung cancers and diseases. In
Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

brief, the statistics indicate just how industrial air pollution affects human health. For example, one of

the worst industrial disasters of all time that occurred in India, in 1984 claimed the lives of more than

8,000 people and the effects were still being felt more than two decades later (CEF, 2016).

In my local country, Viet Nam has a high rate of industrial pollution which has caused many serious

diseases to citizens nowadays. Oil slicks, death rivers and polluted air are among the environmental

problems that Vietnam faces as it industrializes and develops. Viet Nam is a developing country which

is covered by 70% water and its main industry is agriculture. Despite the fact that water is an

important factor to the growth of the economy, factories keep poisoning the sea by 500,000 m3

sewage water per day which is released by making paper, washing powder and dying companies.

Moreover, in the latest Viet Nam news, the government has estimated that the amount of carbon

monoxide and smog in the air mainly caused by factories was at an alarming rate in the period of 2010

2015. Especially in some main cities such as Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh, the air contains dangerous

levels of benzene and sulphur dioxide, which causes several dangerous diseases such as respiratory

disorders, lung cancers, heart disease and even death. According to WHO, there are 567,000 people in

Viet Nam who suffered from respiratory tract infections each year (NLD, 2016). Moreover, land

pollution in Viet Nam become more seriously to citizen's health nowadays. The quality of ground has

faced erosion, exhaust and pollution due to the use of diesel, organic and microbiological substances

for farming.

Behind the industrial pollution of Viet Nam is the story of a factory company named Formosa causing

millions of dead fish in Ha Tinh, Viet Nam, which polluted the countrys sea life and threated

Vietnameses life and health. Government researchers also stated that "toxic element" from Formosa

was the reason for the die-off of many sea creatures. A reporter in Ha Tinh spoke that in the beach, the

scene seemed as a landscape of death. There was not a single sign of life could be seen there, even

many tiny creatures like sand crabs or clams. The life of villagers here became very difficult. In three

months, the local fisherman had not been able to fish in the sea. Their family didn't have enough any

earning to live. To make to money, some markets sold poison fishes to people from different areas in

Viet Nam. Therefore, Vietnamese people were more likely to suffer from dangerous diseases. From
Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

BBC news, it was estimated that at least five million people have been affected by this marine death

disaster. Although Formosa Chinese Company had admitted that they had released hazardous

wastewater into the sea along the central provinces of Vietnam which led to mass death, the

government only fined them with a price of five thousand dollars. It also seemed that the Vietnamese

government didn't care very much about the issue. Therefore a big rally with thousands of Vietnamese

protesters gathered downtown Ha Noi in May 2016 to demonstrate against Taiwanese conglomerate

Formosa (Jasmine Tran, 2016).

According to the previous assessment, if the world keeps going in that directions, its future will be

held back in a serious situation which can lead to the threat on human. Nowadays, the pollution from

factories increase more and more often around the world. Air pollution was recently bringing on the

most effects in every developed countries like China and India. Moreover, by 2050 most of the

worlds population will be subject to degraded air quality if human made emission continue as usual.

Also some people have predicted that the average world citizen 40 years from now will experience

similar air pollution to that of todays average East Asian citizen. At present, urban outdoor air

pollution causes 1.3 million of deaths per year worldwide. A reporter has said that in the region of

economic growth, it might be less effective to implement emission-reduction measure due to strong

growth in activities in particular sectors; in countries suffering from economic downturn,

implementing expensive air quality measures could prove difficult in coming years (Phys.org, 2012).

According to previous predictions, although there are still a lot of problems that many countries

around the world and Viet Nam in particular has to face, people predicted that attending to

environmental education, encouraging factories to use cleaner production to reduce the substance

emissions and decrease waste is the best solution which helps the world to escape from the vicious

cycle and prevent the bad effects to human health and life. When we heal the earth, we heal

ourselves. (David Orr, 2016). Moreover, this solution is taken by government to make an action plan

to achieve the right goal. However, people cannot reduce the industrial pollution if they cant

cooperate together. Particularly, reducing the industrial pollution has to be done by all citizens and

governments in the country, and especially all people around the worlds.
Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

Nowadays, the effects of reducing industrial pollution have been slightly changed in some countries.

Many countries including UK, Canada and the US have used smart treatment systems that recycle

waste water for most chemicals, but this method has not significantly improved yet. There are still a

lot of developing countries which lack treatment facilities (Word Bank, WDI, 2017), meaning these

dangerous toxic are increasing more and more per unit mass than waste water in developed countries.

As a developing country, Viet Nam has been working on the improvement of the industrial pollution

on water, air and also soil. According to Viet Nams environmental protection laws, it includes one of

the rule to the reducing of industrial pollution by payment, the more toxic chemicals these factories

produce, the more money they will pay for it. However, this method was not useful in most of the rich

companies since they keep on producing waste pollution. Research suggests that reducing the

pollution during the production process by removing the toxic chemicals or developing technologies

for waste treatment can keep the environment safe and protect the health of the society.

Thanks to this essay I have acknowledged a lot of things. When first researching for the topic, I was

attracted to the title Five things to know about the Millions of Dead Fish Washing Up on Vietnam's

Central Coast online. It told me that not only in Viet Nam but also in all the around the world has the

same situation of industrial pollution affecting humans lives. I have also known how Chinese and

foreign people have to face these problems and what factors affected them so much with the

poisonous pollution around their place. However, I believe developed countries could help developing

countries with this drastic problem by many ways. There are variety of sectors of the economy that

can produce harmful pollution. However, there is no lack of the solution in an industrial sector. They

are huge. But, people who making decisions are motivated always by getting profit, as much as

possible. So as a citizen we have to save our environment, save our life by taking action on preventing

the pollution from factories and making an environmental protection treaty.

In conclusion, the development of industrial pollution has a serious effect on the lives of humans

which has to be brought under control immediately. To achieve this goal, everybody has to be

involved to make it happen. Nothing is impossible if you try you'll be sure to work it out by and by.

(Randall E. Stross, 2007).


Ngo Hong Chau Effects of Industrial pollution on human live 0013

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