(ORDO NEWS) — Any pollutants in the air can harm human health. Scientists believe that emissions of pollutants associated with agriculture and forest fires can lead to dementia, reported by New Atlas.
Solid particles in the air, which are pollutants, appear in the atmosphere due to transport, industrial emissions, as well as from the burning of fossil fuels. But there are other sources: forest fires and burning of organic matter in agriculture.
Particularly dangerous solid particles for human health are such chemical compounds as PM2.5. They can not only settle in the lungs, but can also enter the brain when breathing air through the nose.
The authors of the study found a link between PM2.5 emissions in agriculture and forest fires and the occurrence of dementia in more than 27,000 American adults.
Although about 15% of people developed dementia, the rate of cognitive decline was significantly higher where high concentrations of PM2.5 were found.
As the results show, smoke from forest fires leads not only to difficulty breathing and irritation of the respiratory tract, but can also negatively affect the functioning of the human brain.
As the global temperature gradually rises on Earth, the frequency of forest fires increases. And they can last a very long time due to constant strong heat waves.
This means that the smoke can spread over very large areas, polluting the surrounding air, scientists say.
In the study, scientists found that all particulate matter in the air increases the risk of dementia, but particles created by the burning of organic matter in agriculture and forest fires appeared to be particularly dangerous to the brain.
Dementia can take a long time to develop, but this is new evidence that action is urgently needed to reduce the amount of particulate matter in the air, scientists say.
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