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Pollution - unwanted waste released to air, water, and land by human activity - is the largest environmental cause of disease in the world today. It is responsible for an estimated nine million premature deaths per year, enormous economic losses, erosion of human capital, and degradation of ecosystems. Ocean pollution is an important, but insufficiently recognized and inadequately controlled component of global pollution. It poses serious threats to human health and well-being. The nature and magnitude of these impacts are only beginning to be understood. (1) Broadly examine the known and potential impacts of ocean pollution on human health. (2) Inform policy makers, government leaders, international organizations, civil society, and the global public of these threats. (3) Propose priorities for interventions to control and prevent pollution of the seas and safeguard human health. Topic-focused reviews that examine the effects of ocean pollution on human health, identify gaps in knowledge, project future trends, and offer evidence-based guidance for effective intervention. Pollution of the oceans is widespread, worsening, and in most countries poorly controlled. It is a complex mixture of toxic metals, plastics, manufactured chemicals, petroleum, urban and industrial wastes, pesticides, fertilizers, pharmaceutical chemicals, agricultural runoff, and sewage. More than 80% arises from land-based sources. It reaches the oceans through rivers, runoff, atmospheric deposition and direct discharges. It is often heaviest near the coasts and most highly concentrated along the coasts of low- and middle-income countries. Plastic is a rapidly increasing and highly visible component of ocean pollution, and an estimated 10 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the seas each year. Mercury is the metal pollutant of greatest concern in the oceans; it is released from two main sources - coal combustion and small-scale gold mining. Global spread of industrialized agriculture with increasing use of chemical fertilizer leads to extension of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) to previously unaffected regions. Chemical pollutants are ubiquitous and contaminate seas and marine organisms from the high Arctic to the abyssal depths. Ocean pollution has multiple negative impacts on marine ecosystems, and these impacts are exacerbated by global climate change. Petroleum-based pollutants reduce photosynthesis in marine microorganisms that generate oxygen. Increasing absorption of carbon dioxide into the seas causes ocean acidification, which destroys coral reefs, impairs shellfish development, dissolves calcium-containing microorganisms at the base of the marine food web, and increases the toxicity of some pollutants. Plastic pollution threatens marine mammals, fish, and seabirds and accumulates in large mid-ocean gyres. It breaks down into microplastic and nanoplastic particles containing multiple manufactured chemicals that can enter the tissues of marine organisms, including species consumed by humans. Industrial releases, runoff, and sewage increase frequency and severity of HABs, bacterial pollution, and anti-microbial resistance. Pollution and sea surface warming are triggering poleward migration of dangerous pathogens such as the species. Industrial discharges, pharmaceutical wastes, pesticides, and sewage contribute to global declines in fish stocks. Methylmercury and PCBs are the ocean pollutants whose human health effects are best understood. Exposures of infants to these pollutants through maternal consumption of contaminated seafood can damage developing brains, reduce IQ and increase children's risks for autism, ADHD and learning disorders. Adult exposures to methylmercury increase risks for cardiovascular disease and dementia. Manufactured chemicals - phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants, and perfluorinated chemicals, many of them released into the seas from plastic waste - can disrupt endocrine signaling, reduce male fertility, damage the nervous system, and increase risk of cancer. HABs produce potent toxins that accumulate in fish and shellfish. When ingested, these toxins can cause severe neurological impairment and rapid death. HAB toxins can also become airborne and cause respiratory disease. Pathogenic marine bacteria cause gastrointestinal diseases and deep wound infections. With climate change and increasing pollution, risk is high that infections, including cholera, will increase in frequency and extend to new areas. All of the health impacts of ocean pollution fall disproportionately on vulnerable populations in the Global South - environmental injustice on a planetary scale. Ocean pollution is a global problem. It arises from multiple sources and crosses national boundaries. It is the consequence of reckless, shortsighted, and unsustainable exploitation of the earth's resources. It endangers marine ecosystems. It impedes the production of atmospheric oxygen. Its threats to human health are great and growing, but still incompletely understood. Its economic costs are only beginning to be counted.Ocean pollution can be prevented. Like all forms of pollution, ocean pollution can be controlled by deploying data-driven strategies based on law, policy, technology, and enforcement that target priority pollution sources. Many countries have used these tools to control air and water pollution and are now applying them to ocean pollution. Successes achieved to date demonstrate that broader control is feasible. Heavily polluted harbors have been cleaned, estuaries rejuvenated, and coral reefs restored.Prevention of ocean pollution creates many benefits. It boosts economies, increases tourism, helps restore fisheries, and improves human health and well-being. It advances the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These benefits will last for centuries. World leaders who recognize the gravity of ocean pollution, acknowledge its growing dangers, engage civil society and the global public, and take bold, evidence-based action to stop pollution at source will be critical to preventing ocean pollution and safeguarding human health.Prevention of pollution from land-based sources is key. Eliminating coal combustion and banning all uses of mercury will reduce mercury pollution. Bans on single-use plastic and better management of plastic waste reduce plastic pollution. Bans on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have reduced pollution by PCBs and DDT. Control of industrial discharges, treatment of sewage, and reduced applications of fertilizers have mitigated coastal pollution and are reducing frequency of HABs. National, regional and international marine pollution control programs that are adequately funded and backed by strong enforcement have been shown to be effective. Robust monitoring is essential to track progress.Further interventions that hold great promise include wide-scale transition to renewable fuels; transition to a circular economy that creates little waste and focuses on equity rather than on endless growth; embracing the principles of green chemistry; and building scientific capacity in all countries.Designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) will safeguard critical ecosystems, protect vulnerable fish stocks, and enhance human health and well-being. Creation of MPAs is an important manifestation of national and international commitment to protecting the health of the seas.

In China, where air pollution has become a major threat to public health, public awareness of the detrimental effects of air pollution on respiratory health is increasing—particularly in relation to haze days. Air pollutant emission levels in China remain substantially higher than are those in developed countries. Moreover, industry, traffic, and household biomass combustion have become major sources of air pollutant emissions, with substantial spatial and temporal variations. In this Review, we focus on the major constituents of air pollutants and their impacts on chronic respiratory diseases. We highlight targets for interventions and recommendations for pollution reduction through industrial upgrading, vehicle and fuel renovation, improvements in public transportation, lowering of personal exposure, mitigation of the direct effects of air pollution through healthy city development, intervention at population-based level (systematic health education, intensive and individualised intervention, pre-emptive measures, and rehabilitation), and improvement in air quality. The implementation of a national environmental protection policy has become urgent.

Environmental sustainability involves meeting current needs without compromising the abilities of future generations. Practical steps must be taken to prevent pollution, decrease waste, and utilize resources. This study investigates the predictors of environmental sustainability in SMEs, focusing on the role of environmental management accounting and environmental proactivity in linking pollution prevention strategies to environmental sustainability using the natural resource–based view theory. This study surveyed 308 Pakistani SMEs employees and tested the data using SPSS v28 and AMOS v26. The results show that pollution control initiatives increased the usage of environmental management accounting, which in turn had a positive impact on environmental sustainability. The study also finds that environmental proactivity is significantly moderate and that environmental management accounting mediates these associations. To the best of our knowledge, this study is unique in that it is the first to provide sustainable implications based on the current framework. This study highlights the importance of implementing pollution prevention strategies, integrating environmental management accounting practices, and fostering environmental proactivity to enhance environmental sustainability performance in SMEs in Pakistan, ultimately leading to improved business competitiveness, positive environmental impacts, and a sustainable future. SMEs can focus on implementing proactive pollution prevention strategies such as waste reduction, energy conservation, and resource optimization. By adopting a proactive approach to pollution prevention, SMEs can reduce their environmental impact and enhance their sustainability performance.

The world often seems to be drowning in garbage and waste. Presents ways to \"reduce, reuse, and recycle\" in our everyday lives.

Asthma is the result of both genetic and environmental influences. In this multicenter, controlled study, conducted in poor, inner-city neighborhoods, a multifaceted environmental intervention helped control asthma. In poor, inner-city neighborhoods, a multifaceted environmental intervention helped control asthma. Inner-city children with asthma are commonly exposed to multiple indoor allergens and environmental tobacco smoke, 1 – 6 exposures that may contribute to the increased asthma-related complications in this population. 7 – 11 Asthma-management guidelines 12 have stressed the need for environmental control measures, but there is limited evidence of their efficacy. Previous studies of environmental interventions for patients with asthma have focused on a single allergen, such as dust mites, or environmental tobacco smoke, rather than on the multiple exposures encountered by many urban children with asthma. Measures to avoid exposure to dust mites, including bedding encasement, have reduced the levels of exposure to . . .

In emerging East Asia, agricultural output has expanded dramatically over recent decades, primarily as a result of successful efforts to stimulate yield growth. This achievement has increased the availability of food and raw materials in the region, drastically diminished hunger, and more generally provided solid ground for economic development. The intensification of agriculture that has made this possible, however, has also led to serious pollution problems that have adversely affected human and ecosystem health, as well as the productivity of agriculture itself. In the region that currently owes the largest proportion of deaths to the environment, agriculture is often portrayed as a victim of industrial and urban pollution, and this is indeed the case. Yet agriculture is taking a growing toll on economic resources and sometimes becoming a victim of its own success. In parts of China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, this pattern of highly productive yet highly polluting agriculture has been unfolding with consequences that remain poorly understood. With large numbers of pollutants and sources, agricultural pollution is often undetected and unmeasured. When assessments do occur, they tend to take place within technical silos, and so the different ecological and socioeconomic risks are seldom considered as a whole, while some escape study entirely. However, when agricultural pollution is considered in its entirety, both the significance of its impacts and the relative neglect of them become clear. Meanwhile, growing recognition that a \"pollute now, treat later\" approach is unsustainable, from both a human health and an agroindustry perspective, has led public and private sector actors to seek solutions to this problem. Yet public intervention has tended to be more reactive than preventive and often inadequate in scale. In some instances, the implementation of sound pollution control programs has also been confronted with incentive structures that do not rank environmental outcomes prominently. Significant potential does exist, however, to reduce the footprint of farms through existing technical solutions, and with adequate and well-crafted government support, its realization is well within reach.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) is known to harm public health. In China, after implementation of aggressive emissions control measures under the Action Plan of Air Pollution Prevention and Control (2013–2017), air quality has significantly improved. In this work, we investigated changes in PM 2.5 exposure and the associated health impacts in China for the period 2013–2017. We used an optimal estimator of PM 2.5 combining in-situ observations, satellite measurements, and simulations from a chemical transport model to derive the spatial and temporal variations in PM 2.5 exposure, and then used well-developed exposure-response functions to estimate the premature deaths attributable to PM 2.5 exposure. We found that national population-weighed annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations decreased from 67.4 µg m −3 in 2013 to 45.5 µg m −3 in 2017 (32% reduction). This rapid decrease in PM 2.5 pollution led to a 14% reduction in premature deaths due to long-term exposure. We estimated that, during 2013–2017, the premature deaths attributable to long-term PM 2.5 exposure decreased from 1.2 million (95% CI: 1.0, 1.3; fraction of total mortality: 13%) in 2013 to 1.0 million (95% CI: 0.9, 1.2; 10%) in 2017. Despite the rapid decrease in annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations, health benefits associated with reduced long-term exposure were limited, because for many cities, the PM 2.5 levels remain at the portion where the exposure-response function is less steeper than that at the low-concentration end. We also found that the deaths associated with acute exposure decreased by 61% during 2013–2017 due to rapid reduction in the number of heavily polluted days. Our results confirm that clean air policies in China have mitigated the air pollution crisis; however, continuous emissions reduction efforts are required to protect citizens from air pollution.