Volatile Organic Molecules: The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research shared some exciting news! They found that if India switches all its two- and three-wheelers to electric vehicles and replaces diesel-fueled vehicles with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), the country could reduce Volatile Organic Molecule (VOC) emissions by a whopping 76% in just the next eight years. It’s a fantastic step toward a cleaner and greener environment!
About Volatile Organic Molecules
- VOCs are carbon-containing chemicals released by petrol and diesel vehicles.
- They impact air quality and human health. VOCs can have a natural origin, too.
- Plants emit these chemicals to attract pollinators, defend themselves from pests and predators and adapt to environmental stress.
Effect of VOCs on Health
- Breathing in VOCs can bother your eyes, nose, and throat, and even harm your organs, possibly leading to cancer.
- Being around VOCs for a long time isn’t great because most of them can cause cancer – not something we want!
- Exposure to VOCs is also connected to health issues like asthma and heart disease. So, it’s not just a minor annoyance.
- Black carbon isn’t a good friend either. It’s tied to problems like trouble breathing, heart issues, cancer, and even birth defects. Plus, it’s not helping with the whole climate change situation.
Positive Feedback Loop
- Breathing in certain chemicals in the air, called VOCs, can lead to the creation of harmful pollutants.
- When these VOCs mix with sunlight and nitrogen dioxide, they produce ground-level ozone, which isn’t good for our health.
- VOCs also play a role in making Particulate Matter (PM2.5), tiny particles that can go deep into our lungs and mess with how they work.
- As if that’s not enough, VOCs team up in the air to create small particles called secondary organic aerosols, which just hang around in the air and aren’t good news for our respiratory system.
Issues Related to VOCs
- People should be more aware of the harmful human-made chemicals in the air, but unfortunately, they don’t get enough attention.
- Benzene is a cancer-causing chemical, and it’s the only one listed in the National ambient air-quality standards.
- Other pollutants in these standards include PM10, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, ammonia, lead, nickel, and benzo(a)pyrene. These are all things we need to pay attention to for the sake of our health and the environment.
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