Toxic substances- This is a chemical substance that is harmful to individual health and the atmosphere at large. They are harmful to humans when inhaled, swallowed or enthralled into the body.
Toxic substances may occur naturally or artificially. Natural occurring are those that occurs in plants while man made occur in every day’s household products.
- Vehicle emission- Vehicles emits a number of chemicals.
- Mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO2. The oxides react with ammonia and water to form nitric acid vapor. The vapor can enter into delicate lung tissue and cause hasty death in life-threatening cases.
- Ozone layer-this is formed when NO2 reacts with volatile organic compounds. The ozone irritates the respiration system, causing pungent and coughing.
- Carbon monoxide- It forms carboxyhaemoglobin when it combines with haemoglobin, the compound that carries red blood cells in the body.
- Furans and dioxins- the most common type and effective example of dioxin is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. Furan is found in a diversity of heat-treated foods through thermal degradation of ordinary food ingredients. This occurs for instance in roasted coffee and instant coffee.
- Thirdly, people are exposed to different chemical compounds from inhaling exhaust fumes from industrial companies such as the cement companies, pvc industries and paper making companies.
In my opinion, businesses and regulatory agencies are not doing enough to control the pollution of the substances. For instance, regulatory agencies have done plenty of research to determine the chemical hazard of chemicals, yet have done little to curb the emission of toxic substance.
Businesses, on the other hand, have always put their main mission, which is profit making, ahead of the health of individuals. For instance, due to the vehicle and industrial emissions which have caused severe hazards on the environment, nothing has been done by the companies to control this.
In my opinion, there are methods of controlling the toxic substances in the environment. For instance, I would suggest a carbon free and Nitrogen free fuel by automotive. This will reduce the emission of carbon and nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere. Secondly, I would suggest proper ways of handling chemical waste from every industry. I would urge every industry to ensure proper waste treatment before releasing the waste into the environment, be it liquid, air or solid phase.
Reference
Peter, R. (2006). Toxic substances. Journal of the most severe toxic substances.24,123-125
