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Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

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81–90 of 98 posts

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#81

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…

Also to your point on how mutation happens: its random and rarely beneficial. If you go out in the sun without sunscreen, that UV light penetrates your skin and encourages your skin cells to produce more melanin, but it could also damage your DNA, break a tumor suppressing gene, and give you skin cancer.

Your bodies DNA replication machinery also has an error rate which can be worked out, and you can extrapolate that to get a rate of mutation. Knowing this rate can give you an estimate of how long ago two species diverged based on the number of different bases when you line up their DNA sequences against eachother, for example.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#82

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

People like you should be forbidden from all forms of communication.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't possibly want to leave the city, drive down a logging road, tour around, and enjoy my personal freedom, right? Why would anyone want that, when someone might possibly have a small chance of dying because of it?

it's not just the small chance of dying, though- it's the very real and cumulative effects of driving cars in general. We have laws around being able to pump raw sewage into rivers and lakes as well as laws around leaving depleted uranium anywhere remotely possible of causing harm (and even then it probably still isn't great) You're welcome to leave the city via some means that doesn't pollute the atmosphere. Walk, b…

You’re typing as if your fever dream of restricted behaviors has already come true. It must be exciting to be so delusional.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#84

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…

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…

Source?

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced patchy hair loss after moving to Los Angeles. This "childhood disease" does not run in my family, and I've never had it before. I'm 38 and moved here two years ago. I have come to suspect systemic inflation from the rampant pollution in LA caused my new autoimmune disease, or at worst exacerbated a condition I never experienced symptoms of before.

Are you sure it's an autoimmune disease? For me when I went to uninhabited islands for example, the symptoms of my illness went away completely. I believe the problem is that my body is not able to metabolize the toxic air molecules that gets to my bloodstream through my lungs.

How do you go to an inhabited island for a prolonged period of time? Any anecdotes?

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#86

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…

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…

[deleted]

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#87

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…

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…

> The UK government permits new cars to be sold with tailpipe emissions which are VASTLY higher than those of comparable vehicles in the USA.

What I could find about the latest standards does not seem to support your claim. But maybe I'm looking at wrong numbers or misinterpreting them, so I wouldn't mind looking at your own sources if you have them.

EURO 6d standards for diesel passenger cars [1]:

- CO: 0.5 g/km

- NOx: 0.080 g/km

- PM: 0.0045 g/km

California LEV standards for passenger cars - CO: 3.4 g/mi = 2.1 g/km

- NOx: 0.2 g/mi = 0.12 g/km

- PM: 0.08 g/mi = 0.05 g/km

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

[2] https://www.dieselnet.com/standards/us/ld_ca.php

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I couldn't possibly want to leave the city, drive down a logging road, tour around, and enjoy my personal freedom, right? Why would anyone want that, when someone might possibly have a small chance of dying because of it?

If you demand your personal freedom in that way, why do you live in a city at all? You can't park on a street at night and blare loud music, you can't shoot pigeons on the rooftops with a rifle, you can't fly a drone over people or around other's property without permission, and those won't even kill people.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#89
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Maybe the same law can make commenting on web sites illegals. Sitting and lethargy kill many more than driving.

The people commenting kill themselves. The people driving kill and injure other people.

I don't know how widely reported it was outside the UK, but Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth's husband) is 97. In January this year, he drove his car into a car with two women and a nine month old child in it. He was OK, the women required hospital treatment (but were not seriously injured).

"Prince Philip unhurt in crash" said the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46912691 "Prince Philip will not be prosecuted [..] We have decided that it would not be in the public interest" said the Crown Prosecution Service. ( https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/14/prince-phili... ).

He voluntarily surrendered his driving license after that.

Re: Air Pollution Seems to Cause Dementia

#90
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

would be or would not be- I'm confused by your statement

I wanted to say that while I would like to live in such a world, I can't think of an example.
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