There is a connection between pollution and disease By Julie Peller Ph.D.

Green Junction

The connection between pollution and disease is often complex and takes time to establish. Cigarette smoke was associated with heart disease in the 1950s, but the public messaging of the health problems lagged. When more scientific evidence was compiled linking cigarette smoke pollutants to lung cancer and chronic bronchitis, a Surgeon General report was requested by President Kennedy in 1964. The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which required stronger warnings on cigarette packaging and the prohibition of smoking advertisements on radio and television, was signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon. Other smoking bans followed later, such as President Bill Clinton’s 1997 executive order banning smoking in federal government buildings.

Vaping, or the use of e-cigarettes, was commercialized in 2003 and introduced into Europe and the US in 2006. Even though these alternatives to cigarettes are either banned or restricted by many countries, an estimated 8% of adults in the United States and as many as 100 million people worldwide use them. In addition to toxic chemicals similar to cigarettes, vaping devices contain small lithium-ion batteries and a significant amount of plastic. According to the American Lung Association, “toxic chemicals and metals have all been found in e-cigarettes.” Consequently, the United States EPA classifies e-cigarettes as hazardous waste.

Society has known about the damaging health consequences of cigarette pollution for decades. Now, an estimated half a million e-cigarettes, devices containing many of the same toxic chemicals and other materials that are damaging to public and environmental health, are thrown away every day in the US. 

Public health expert, Dr. Bruce Lanphear, explains in his recent Substack column, “For decades, industries associated with these [pollutant] hazards have questioned the evidence, emphasized uncertainty, delayed regulation, and shifted responsibility onto individuals.” He describes how chronic diseases, those that develop over a longer period of time and often from exposure to toxic chemicals, do not instigate the same level of attention as infectious diseases. His thorough analysis suggests that the difficulty of reducing many harmful pollutants is likely due to industry’s influence. “The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health estimated that pollution contributes to roughly nine million deaths each year worldwide.” Maybe the connection is clearer than we are told. 

Julie Peller, Ph.D., is an environmental chemist (Professor of Chemistry at Valparaiso University). She has been writing a weekly column, The Green Junction, for the past seven years and is helping to move the call of Laudato Si to action. Her research interests include advanced oxidation for aqueous solutions, water quality analyses, emerging contaminants, air quality analyses, challenges along the Lake Michigan shoreline (such as Cladophora, water, and sediment contaminants), and student and citizen participation in environmental work.