Car fumes may damage your health 
May 03, 2009
PHILIP'S joy on getting a job in a furniture firm faded prematurely because he could not stand his new workplace on Entebbe Road. He says the exhaust fumes from the passing cars irritated his throat and gave him sore eyes while the smell of the fumes gave
By Thomas Pere
PHILIP'S joy on getting a job in a furniture firm faded prematurely because he could not stand his new workplace on Entebbe Road. He says the exhaust fumes from the passing cars irritated his throat and gave him sore eyes while the smell of the fumes gave him headache.
As time went by, his condition worsened, with frequent cough, asthma attacks and breathing difficulties. He had to quit the job.
As the economy grows, the number of motorists and motorised equipment is also increasing steadily.
This is reflected in the increased demand for oil products like premium, kerosene, gas, oil and aviation fuel from 273,928 tonnes in 1994 to 674,623 tonnes in 2007, implying that an increasing number of people are getting exposed to exhaust fumes.
A World Bank report, The World Development Indicators 2008, indicates that traffic congestion in urban areas damages people’s health and degrades the quality of life.
“The fumes emitted by motor vehicles — dust and soot in exhaust — is far more damaging to human health than once believed,†the report states.
Budigi Ruharara, a chemist at the department of chemistry at Makerere University says: “Ideally when fuel burns in an engine at a temperature of about 3000 degrees Celsius you should get carbon dioxide, water and energy since it is made up of hydrocarbons.
But this is not the case because fuel has additives like lead in petrol and impurities such as sulphur in diesel.â€
Ruharara explains that when diesel burns, it produces compounds of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. When the nitrate oxide mixes with water it produces sulphuric or nitric acid.
“However, not all motorised engines undergo complete combustion. Often there is incomplete combustion and this produces carbon dioxide, carbon, carbon monoxide, and water from all fuels used in engines.
This is worse in Uganda because most engines, especially those of vehicles, are old,†he says.
Dr. Gregory Tumweheire, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Mulago Hospital, says: “The carbon monoxide produced by motorised engines is dangerous to human health.
This happens when you breathe it in and it combines with haemoglobin in the blood. Once this happens, the haemoglobin stops carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and carbon dioxide from tissues to the lungs, a condition referred to as carbon dioxide poisoning.â€
Once this happens, he says, you will be like someone who has undergone excessive bleeding and does not have blood.
According to Tumweheire, fuels contain additives and impurities like lead and sulphur. In combustion at high temperature, these combine with oxygen and nitrogen in the air.
The outcome of lead, sulphur and nitrogen in combustion is also dangerous to health.
“When breathed in, the lining of your respiratory systems gets inflamed, eventually reducing diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide, thus subjecting the body to reduced oxygen and retained carbon dioxide,†he says.
He explains that carbon monoxide also has a direct effect on the brain, eyes, ears and other vital sensory organs.
Long-term effects include prolonged irritation of the airway passages (respiratory tract) and respiratory diseases like asthma and bronchitis and cancer of the throat and lungs and damage to the nervous system and blood.
Acute poisoning by exhaust fumes can cause sudden death. This is possible if a car is left running in an enclosed space like a garage.
Victims of exhaust fumes are those who are often exposed to their generation and emission, including people who work at roadsides congested with vehicles, people in closed systems with poor ventilation where engines are frequently running and those who move in cars with the back doors open.
Environmentally, the worst effect of combustion is the production of acidic substances, especially related to nitric and sulphuric acids as well as lead products in the fuel. Acid products lead to acid rain, a hazard of industrialisation.
Prevention
Some of these effects can be prevented by using improved fuel which does not have impurities and additives like lead and sulphur. You can also use new technology vehicles with systems like catalytic converters to remove some of the toxic products.
The catalytic converter in the car exhaust system helps to remove poison and toxic substances from the exhaust fumes and recirculate unburnt fuel to reduce carbon dioxide emission.
Using computerised controlled combustion or electronic fuel injection systems also reduces the amount of incomplete combustion.
Petrol is more toxic to the human body and environment than diesel exhaust fumes because petrol undergoes more incomplete combustion.
Many people do not believe this because of the more visible smoke from diesel exhaust systems.
Measures like keeping windows closed in traffic jams and switching engines on only when garage door and ventilators are open are also helpful in the prevention of domestic poisoning by exhaust gases.
Exhaust gases from a domestic garage can spread to the interior of the main house if the door connecting the garage to the house is open and the garage gate is closed.
“Wearing masks is effective for particulate substances in the exhaust like carbon but may not be effective for carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen sulphur and lead which are gaseous,†says Tumweheire.
What to do
“Any body suspected of carbon monoxide poisoning must be rushed to the hospital where oxygen, blood transfusion and other life support measures are given,†says Tumweheire.
PHILIP'S joy on getting a job in a furniture firm faded prematurely because he could not stand his new workplace on Entebbe Road. He says the exhaust fumes from the passing cars irritated his throat and gave him sore eyes while the smell of the fumes gave him headache.
As time went by, his condition worsened, with frequent cough, asthma attacks and breathing difficulties. He had to quit the job.
As the economy grows, the number of motorists and motorised equipment is also increasing steadily.
This is reflected in the increased demand for oil products like premium, kerosene, gas, oil and aviation fuel from 273,928 tonnes in 1994 to 674,623 tonnes in 2007, implying that an increasing number of people are getting exposed to exhaust fumes.
A World Bank report, The World Development Indicators 2008, indicates that traffic congestion in urban areas damages people’s health and degrades the quality of life.
“The fumes emitted by motor vehicles — dust and soot in exhaust — is far more damaging to human health than once believed,†the report states.
Budigi Ruharara, a chemist at the department of chemistry at Makerere University says: “Ideally when fuel burns in an engine at a temperature of about 3000 degrees Celsius you should get carbon dioxide, water and energy since it is made up of hydrocarbons.
But this is not the case because fuel has additives like lead in petrol and impurities such as sulphur in diesel.â€
Ruharara explains that when diesel burns, it produces compounds of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. When the nitrate oxide mixes with water it produces sulphuric or nitric acid.
“However, not all motorised engines undergo complete combustion. Often there is incomplete combustion and this produces carbon dioxide, carbon, carbon monoxide, and water from all fuels used in engines.
This is worse in Uganda because most engines, especially those of vehicles, are old,†he says.
Dr. Gregory Tumweheire, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Mulago Hospital, says: “The carbon monoxide produced by motorised engines is dangerous to human health.
This happens when you breathe it in and it combines with haemoglobin in the blood. Once this happens, the haemoglobin stops carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and carbon dioxide from tissues to the lungs, a condition referred to as carbon dioxide poisoning.â€
Once this happens, he says, you will be like someone who has undergone excessive bleeding and does not have blood.
According to Tumweheire, fuels contain additives and impurities like lead and sulphur. In combustion at high temperature, these combine with oxygen and nitrogen in the air.
The outcome of lead, sulphur and nitrogen in combustion is also dangerous to health.
“When breathed in, the lining of your respiratory systems gets inflamed, eventually reducing diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide, thus subjecting the body to reduced oxygen and retained carbon dioxide,†he says.
He explains that carbon monoxide also has a direct effect on the brain, eyes, ears and other vital sensory organs.
Long-term effects include prolonged irritation of the airway passages (respiratory tract) and respiratory diseases like asthma and bronchitis and cancer of the throat and lungs and damage to the nervous system and blood.
Acute poisoning by exhaust fumes can cause sudden death. This is possible if a car is left running in an enclosed space like a garage.
Victims of exhaust fumes are those who are often exposed to their generation and emission, including people who work at roadsides congested with vehicles, people in closed systems with poor ventilation where engines are frequently running and those who move in cars with the back doors open.
Environmentally, the worst effect of combustion is the production of acidic substances, especially related to nitric and sulphuric acids as well as lead products in the fuel. Acid products lead to acid rain, a hazard of industrialisation.
Prevention
Some of these effects can be prevented by using improved fuel which does not have impurities and additives like lead and sulphur. You can also use new technology vehicles with systems like catalytic converters to remove some of the toxic products.
The catalytic converter in the car exhaust system helps to remove poison and toxic substances from the exhaust fumes and recirculate unburnt fuel to reduce carbon dioxide emission.
Using computerised controlled combustion or electronic fuel injection systems also reduces the amount of incomplete combustion.
Petrol is more toxic to the human body and environment than diesel exhaust fumes because petrol undergoes more incomplete combustion.
Many people do not believe this because of the more visible smoke from diesel exhaust systems.
Measures like keeping windows closed in traffic jams and switching engines on only when garage door and ventilators are open are also helpful in the prevention of domestic poisoning by exhaust gases.
Exhaust gases from a domestic garage can spread to the interior of the main house if the door connecting the garage to the house is open and the garage gate is closed.
“Wearing masks is effective for particulate substances in the exhaust like carbon but may not be effective for carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen sulphur and lead which are gaseous,†says Tumweheire.
What to do
“Any body suspected of carbon monoxide poisoning must be rushed to the hospital where oxygen, blood transfusion and other life support measures are given,†says Tumweheire.