Air pollution is regarded as the presence of harmful substances in the atmosphere. The pollutant must be present in quantities or for periods of time that affect humans, animals, plants, materials or our perception of the environment. Detrimental effects are at the heart of the definition, rather than the idea that the pollutant is a product of human activities, because occasionally air pollutants are produced by natural sources such as volcanoes. In more recent times words such as ‘smog’ or ‘acid rain’ have been loosely used as a broad synonym for air pollution.
Air pollution has affected humans since the earliest times. Mummified lung tissue and skeletal remains suggest the ancient peoples suffered from smoky interiors (Brimblecombe, 1987). Huts in some countries can still be very polluted (Smith, 1987). Urban pollution was severe in some large cities of the ancient Mediterranean, and Classical and early Islamic medical authors wrote of its effect on human health. However it was...
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© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Brimblecombe, P. (1999). Air pollution. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_8
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