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Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

wired.com

31–40 of 98 posts

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve lived in London the past decade and had problems with air pollution (got bronchitis a number of times in the last few years). Just today my GP suggested getting an inhaler. And I just found out a guy I work with got an inhaler last week. It’s insane how bad the air pollution is, estimated to cause 40k premature deaths each year. Meanwhile the government hardly does anything (though see below). People feel it’s t…

You could say the same thing about driving at all. People think it's their divine right to drive, even though driving at all reports 165,000 casualties of all levels in the UK, per year: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua... And the government does nothing. Except speed bumps, which people complain about, mandatory car maintenance, which people complain about, traffic lights everywhere, whic…

The UK government permits new cars to be sold with tailpipe emissions which are VASTLY higher than those of comparable vehicles in the USA. The Dieselgate scandal never ended outside USA. It's just business as usual in Europe. The UK government is complicit in knowingly allowing manufacturers to sell extremely polluting diesels. The green initiatives in the UK are hilariously inadequate because so many brand new cars are diesels with extreme emissions levels compared to comparable cars sold in the United States. American market diesels do not pollute anywhere as much as UK market diesels.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#33

I definitely notice myself degrading since becoming homeless last year, and its like everything I'm newly subjected to causes dementia and Alzheimers--brake dust, poor air quality, plaque in gums. I lived outside during the wild fires, and I mostly sleep near intersections. (And the homeless must suck it up and compete in the fair market without complaint!) I documented myself on a YouTube channel as I could sense ho…

Plaque in gums is an extremely serious issue that you need to resolve immediately. You can develop many chronic illnesses and deteriorate rapidly If you do not resolve that. If you can't afford a dentist here get a bus ticket to Yuma and walk across the border.

Brake dust is gnarly stuff for your health.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. Evolution theory would require those who get dementia to go extinct. Usually by the time you develop dementia, you already reproduced, so even if some people become "immune" to pollution, the others won't get removed from the gene pool.

This is an interesting angle. Next generation will pretty much be exposed to pollution by the moment they're born. Technically their kids will inherit a slightly mutated version already even though it might not yet be enough. Does our gene "remember" how much exposure it had accumulated from the previous generation? We often hear from the news how they found some individuals who were immune to certain diseases due to…

Does our gene "remember" how much exposure it had accumulated from the previous generation?

Not as DNA. The main thing that controls evolution is failure to reproduce. Life experiences have only a very short term effect on how DNA is packaged.

it will always be a new mutation

A "mutation" is not the same thing as a "permutation". The combination of DNA from two parents is not itself mutation.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could say the same thing about driving at all. People think it's their divine right to drive, even though driving at all reports 165,000 casualties of all levels in the UK, per year: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua... And the government does nothing. Except speed bumps, which people complain about, mandatory car maintenance, which people complain about, traffic lights everywhere, whic…

Hopefully non autonomous driving becomes illegal. Its a lethal weapon and we shouldnt be trusting humans with cars

But then you'd be trusting software developers with cars. What if a botnet of cars activates and tries to mow down everybody around?

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should all just become vegetables plugged into the matrix so we can't possibly hurt ourselves or others. We would be valuable vassals providing energy to our overlords. I can't wait for your future.

false dichotomy- there exists a world in which cars are not the normal mode of transportation because everything you could possibly want is within walking distance and intra-city travel is something you do only occasionally.

Does there though? I personally would be interested in living in a 1mln+ city that's 99%+ car free.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#38

As far as anecdotes go, since I moved to London I noticed a sharp decrease in memory performance, heavy hair loss, and a general feeling of unhealthiness, developed a random persistent cough as well. The fact that you can always see a heavy haze even in short tube tunnels tells a lot on the air quality, the last underground cleaning train stopped working in the eighties...very unhealthy place to live/work in my opini…

> sharp decrease in memory performance, heavy hair loss, and a general feeling of unhealthiness Are you in your thirties?

Touché. Or should I say toupee?

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#40

As far as anecdotes go, since I moved to London I noticed a sharp decrease in memory performance, heavy hair loss, and a general feeling of unhealthiness, developed a random persistent cough as well. The fact that you can always see a heavy haze even in short tube tunnels tells a lot on the air quality, the last underground cleaning train stopped working in the eighties...very unhealthy place to live/work in my opini…

The environmental externality must be internalized strongly and consistently throughout the "developed" and developing economies [1]. Participation from the two groups is a necessary condition for addressing the air pollution issue.

Meanwhile, the situation in London is similar in South Korea [2]. Most likely, worse: South Korean government is afraid of further regulating the domestic industry, when it should. Over the past decade or so, Chinese government has moved a lot of their factories to the East coast which faces SK in the West. Both SK and Chinese citizens must acknowledge this is a mutually-interested issue and take concrete steps to collaborate while minimizing finger pointing. I am convinced this is a tractable scientific and social/diplomatic problem. One proposal is to set up a joint government-backed venture/think tank that incrementally tackles this issue at a tech/policy level. Such a small step but no where near it...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

[2]: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/13/social-d...

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