Air Pollution a Silent Killer to Children - Essay Example

Air Pollution a Silent Killer to Children ment of problem Studies suggest that, leukemia is one of the leading causes of mortality in children under the age of 15. Other studies show that, exposure to vehicle exhaust increases the risk of childhood leukemia. The main aim of this paper is to describe and discuss the main findings and the implications of a study carried on childhood leukemia and its correlation with traffic air pollution in Taiwan. Research questionsCan childhood leukemia be attributed to vehicle exhaust particlesis the risk of childhood leukemia is associated with exposure to vehicle exhaust emissionsis childhood leukemia linked with effects of urbanization Description of experimental approach This study was carried out by Hsu-Huei Weng and others.

The study was on a matched cancer case-control group using childhood deaths that occurred in Taiwan between 1995 and 2005. Data on childhood leukemia deaths were gathered from the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the Taiwan. The control group was made up of children who died from causes associated with respiratory complications. The controls were pair matched to the cases in respect to gender, year of birth, and year of death after they had been selected randomly from the set of possible controls for each case.

Results of findingsThe results were that, cancer cases had considerable higher rate of 87.3% of occurrence for those residing in urban municipalities than that of controls of 80.5%. They further revealed that, the crude odds ratios were considerably higher than 1.0 for the groups with high levels of nitrogen dioxide exposure in their residential municipality. This implies that, there was a considerable trend toward an increased risk of childhood leukemia with rising nitrogen dioxide concentrations.

Overall, the study found that there is a significant relationship between exposure to traffic exhaust pollutants and the risk of leukemia among young children less than 15 years. Statement of how findings impact on the problemThe findings of this study are consistent with previous studies as reflected in the problem statement. This study offers further evidence of a relationship between exposure to traffic exhaust emissions and the risk of childhood leukemia. The findings of this study call further investigation of the role of traffic air pollution in childhood leukemia.

Future investigation of the relationship between traffic air pollutants and childhood leukemia development needs to include more accurate means of exposure assessment, including quantifying individual exposure to benzene (benzene is an established cause of leukemia in humans) and to other carcinogens. Work citedHsu-Huei Weng, Shang-Shyue Tsai, Chih-Cheng Chen, Hui-Fen Chiu, Trong-Neng Wu, and Chun-Yuh Yang, Childhood Leukemia Development and Correlation with Traffic Air Pollution in Taiwan using Nitrogen Dioxide as an Air Pollutant MarkerJournal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 71: 434-438, 2008