Unfavorable environmental factors. To adverse environmental factors
Pollution environment largely associated with trace elements from the heavy metal groups, can have negative consequences for children. In the immediate vicinity of industrial enterprises, zones with a high content of lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, nickel and other trace elements are formed.
In Russia, the most common toxicant from the groups of heavy metals has become lead, the high concentration of which in the natural environment is due to industrial emissions and an increase in the number of cars running on low-quality gasoline. Vehicle exhaust gases are one of the main sources of lead pollution. Therefore, living near highways is considered a factor predisposing to the accumulation of lead in the body.
It is assumed that the intake of lead in the body of children, even in small quantities, can cause cognitive and behavioral disorders. At the same time, children aged 1-2 years have the greatest susceptibility to its toxic effect. Studies have shown that increasing the level of lead in the blood to 5-10 mg causes neurological problems in children. mental development and behavior, impaired attention, motor disinhibition, as well as a tendency to reduce the intelligence quotient.
Negative environmental influences can exacerbate dysfunctions of the immune system, which increases the predisposition of the body, the central nervous system to various infections. Infectious agents that affect the mother during pregnancy can affect the developing fetal brain without having any effect on the mature central nervous system of the mother. And children are born with a tendency to infectious diseases of the respiratory tract and middle ear, allergic reactions, dermatitis.
The role of nutritional factors.
A risk factor for the formation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is exposure to food toxins and allergens. There is an opinion that hyperactivity is due to cerebral irritation caused by artificial colors and natural food salicylates. Removal of these substances from food leads to a significant improvement in behavior and the elimination of learning difficulties in most hyperactive children.
Taking a large amount of carbohydrate foods, sweets (after carbohydrates) causes drowsiness, inattention.
That is, this indicates the importance of a balanced diet for preschool children (especially in the morning), which should include the required amount of protein.
Attention is one of the most important functions that ensure the success of the process schooling. Children with impaired attention are turned off from work in the classroom, unable to concentrate on thinking and completing tasks, which naturally leads to poor academic performance. The behavior of schoolchildren with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder brings them closer to younger children. Their behavior is often characterized as infantile.
Baths for increased nervous excitability, insomnia
1) Marsh rosemary herb, motherwort herb (100 g each) pour 2 liters of boiling water, leave for 2 hours, strain and pour into a bath of water t 36-38˚C. Procedures should be taken every other day for 15-20 minutes. Course 10 baths.
2) Medicinal sweet clover herb, thyme herb (100 g each) pour 2 liters of boiling water.
Method of preparation and use as in recipe No. 1.
3) Valerian root (200 gr) pour 5 liters of boiling water, leave for 3-4 hours, strain, pour into a bath of water t 36-38˚C. Procedures should be taken every other day for 15-20 minutes. Course 10 baths.
4) Peppermint leaf, hop cones, wormwood herb (100 g each) pour 5 liters of boiling water. Leave for 3-4 hours, strain and pour into a bath of water t 36-38˚C. Take a bath for 15-20 minutes. in one day. Course 10 baths.
5) Chamomile flowers, blue cyanosis grass, dill fruits (100 g each) pour 5 liters of boiling water. Method of preparation and use as in recipe No. 4.
6) Dry hay (1-1.5 kg) pour 7-8 liters of boiling water, boil for 1 hour, strain, pour into a bath of water t 34-36˚C. Procedures should be taken daily or every other day for 10-15 minutes. The course of treatment is 10-15 baths. If the child is allergic to herbs, this bath is better not to carry out.
Medical correction
In ADHD, the use of metabolic stimulants (piracetam, pantogam, pyriditol, etc.) form the basis of drug treatment. Being different in chemical structure, points of application and mechanism of action, drugs have a common ability to influence the processes of tissue metabolism, including increasing the efficiency of cerebral energy metabolism (metabolic action). Considering that this form of hyperkinetic disorders is more often combined with mental retardation, the neurotrophic effect of nootropics helps to accelerate the mental development of children not only by improving intellectual prerequisites (attention, memory, performance), but also by stimulating the actual analytical and synthetic psychomotor activity.
In domestic psychiatry of past years, sidnocarb was widely used. The drug proved to be effective in some forms of hyperkinetic disorders, mainly in mild cases without pronounced emotional and volitional disorders. According to V.A. Karasova, in children with ADHD, a distinct therapeutic effect is observed in 50%, and deterioration, accompanied by an increase in motor disinhibition, impulsivity, and sleep disturbance in 25% of cases. When treating children with hyperkinetic conduct disorder, there was no noticeable improvement. In most cases, there was an increase in affective excitability, conflict, aggressiveness, which required discontinuation of the drug and switching to treatment with antipsychotics.
The results of biochemical studies are largely consistent with clinical observations. According to M.G. Uzbekov, the effectiveness of treatment with sidnocarb depends on the different level and nature of the metabolism of monoamines in separate forms hyperkinetic disorders. The disappearance of sydnocarb from the pharmaceutical market has narrowed the choice of therapeutic drugs used to treat ADHD. Currently, there is evidence of a positive effect from the use of a synthetic analogue of adrenocorticotropic hormone, produced under the name Semax. The drug is taken intranasally, 1-2 drops in each nasal passage, up to 2 times a day (morning and afternoon). And although Semax is completely devoid of hormonal activity, treatment is still recommended in courses of 5 to 14 days. Data on the possibility of longer therapy, as well as the frequency with which courses can be repeated, are not available.
Drug therapy requires the joint efforts of a neurologist, psychologist and psychiatrist. The use of tranquilizers such as atarax, elenium, lorazepam is a serious method of correction, perceived by parents without enthusiasm.
There are a number of soft medicines for children:
Valerian (medicinal)
Preparations based on it reduce the excitability of the central nervous system, as a result of which they are usually used as sedatives for nervous excitation and sleep disorders. They reduce reflex excitability in the central parts of the nervous system. In the treatment of young children, an infusion of valerian root is more often used.
Motherwort.
In pediatrics, infusion, tincture and, less often, motherwort extract are used. The sedative effect of motherwort tincture is 2-3 times stronger than valerian tincture. Therefore, motherwort preparations are used for increased excitability, neurasthenia and neurosis, not only in children, adolescents, but also in adults.
Pharmaceutical camomile.
Used as a decoction, infusion or tea, it is a mild sedative, effective for sleep disorders. In addition to oral administration, chamomile decoctions can be used for baths. Course treatment with baths 10-12 times, has a positive effect in children with ADHD.
Novo-passit and Persen.
Both drugs are based on a combination of medicinal herbs. The composition of Novo-Passit includes: extracts of hawthorn, hops, valerian, St. John's wort, lemon balm, black elderberry, etc.
Persen consists of extracts of valerian, peppermint and lemon mint.
Novo-Passit is available as a solution and tablets. Persen in the form of tablets.
The action of the constituent components of these preparations is as follows: peppermint has sedative and antispasmodic properties, and has a reflex effect. Melissa has a similar effect.
Hawthorn.
Used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Hawthorn also improves the supply of oxygen to brain neurons. The sedative efficacy of drugs has been proven. Because of this, as well as its low toxicity, hawthorn is widely used as a sedative.
Hops ordinary.
The neurotropic effect of preparations from hop cones is associated with the presence of lupulin in them, which has an effect on the central nervous system. Hop oil is part of valocordin, which in pediatrics is taken 3-15 drops 3 times a day before meals with a little water, depending on age and symptoms.
Hypericum perforatum.
St. John's wort has versatile pharmaceutical properties, among which the antispasmodic effect, as well as the capillary-strengthening effect, deserves special attention.
Among homeopathic remedies, Nervochel is interesting - sublingual tablets (under the tongue), taken 1-3 times a day. There are no contraindications to it, and no side effects have been identified.
Nootropics
1. Piracetam and its analogues: Apagon, Brainton, Diepyram, Lucetam, Nootropil, Normabrain, Aycamide, Orocetam, Pirabene, Piramem, Phezam, Cerebropan, Cerebral, Eumental. The dose is 30-50 mg / kg per day, the course is 1-6 months.
2. Pantogam. Dose 0.75 mg/kg per day, course 1-6 months.
3. γ-aminobutyric acid. Dose 0.5-3 grams per day, course from 2-3 weeks to 2-6 months.
4. Pyritinol. Dose 20-30 mg per day, course 1-2 months.
5. Glycine. Dose 0.1-2 gr. per day, the course is 7-30 days.
The group of nootropics also includes extracts of Ginkgo biloba, cerebrolysin, glutamic acid, picamilon, gliatilin.
Amino acids:
Glutamic acid, methionine, glycine, carnitine chloride, α-tryptophan, piracetam.
Neuropeptides and hormonal preparations:
Semax, cerebrolysin, α-thyroxine.
Due to the complex action, some drugs are repeated in different groups.
Group - vascular medicines improving hemolytic dynamics, microcirculation, with antihypoxic effect, instenon, picamilon, etc.
Vitamins, minerals, biostimulants, aloe, pantogam, potassium orotate, ATP, and others.
?Introduction……………………………………………………………p.2
I. Environmental factors………………………………………..page 4
II. Anthropogenic impact on the biosphere…………………….page 6
1. The current state of the natural environment………………….page 6
2. Atmosphere - the outer shell of the biosphere.
Atmospheric pollution………………………………………page 9
3. Soil is an important part of the biosphere.
Soil pollution……………………………………………p.12
4. Water is the basis life processes in the biosphere.
Pollution natural waters………………………………….page 14
5. Radiation in the biosphere………………………………………….page 1 7
6. Ecological problems of the biosphere………………………...p.18
III. Environmental influences on human health………...p.22
1. Anthropogenic impact on habitat and health
person…………………………………………………………. page 22
2. Chronic environmentally conditioned intoxication
violates our psyche……………………………………….p.2 3
3. Chemical pollution of the environment and human health………p.23
4. Biological contamination and human diseases……………p.24
5. Features of the reaction of the child's body to the impact
adverse factors external environment………………...page 26
IV. The influence of the urban environment on the health of the population………… p.29
Conclusion…………………………………………………………p.36
List of used literature ……………………………..... p.37
INTRODUCTION
The problem of the adverse impact of environmental factors on human health is becoming increasingly important every year. In many regions of Russia, an unfavorable ecological situation has developed.As is known, in recent decades there has been an intensive change in the environment due to a sharp expansion industrial production growth in the amount of waste polluting the environment. All this directly affects the health of the population, causes enormous damage to the economy, drastically reduces labor resources, and also potentially creates a carcinogenic and mutagenic hazard not only for the health of present, but also future generations.
Environmental protection is one of the most actual problems modernity. Scientific and technological progress and increased anthropogenic impact on the natural environment inevitably lead to an aggravation of the ecological situation: natural resources are depleted, the natural environment is polluted, the natural connection between man and nature is lost, aesthetic values are lost, and the physical and moral health of people worsens.
Concerning Russian Federation, then it belongs to the countries of the world with the worst environmental situation. Pollution of the natural environment has reached unprecedented proportions in recent years. More than 24 thousand enterprises today are powerful environmental pollutants - air, subsoil and Wastewater. The most acute environmental problem in the modern Russian Federation is environmental pollution. The health of Russians is deteriorating significantly, all the vital functions of the body, including reproductive ones, suffer. The average age of men in the Russian Federation in recent years has been 58 years. For comparison, in the USA - 69 years, Japan - 71 years. Every tenth child in the Russian Federation is born mentally or physically handicapped due to genetic changes and chromosomal aberrations. For individual industrialized Russian regions, this figure is 3-6 times higher. In most industrial areas of the country, one third of the inhabitants have various forms of immunological deficiency. By the standards of the UN World Health Organization, the Russian people are approaching the brink of degeneration. At the same time, approximately 15% of the country's territory is occupied by zones of ecological disaster and environmental emergencies. And only 15-20% of the inhabitants of cities and towns breathe air that meets the established quality standards. About 50% of drinking water consumed by the Russian population does not meet hygienic and sanitary-epidemiological standards. The given data show that it is time for all citizens of vast and resource-rich Russia to realize that the time of unregulated unlimited use of the environment has irretrievably gone. You have to pay for everything: money, the introduction of strict restrictions, the establishment of criminal liability. Otherwise, a person pays not only with his health, but also with the health of the entire nation, the well-being of future generations, since an uncontrolled negative impact on the natural environment is the self-destruction of a person as a species.
It can be assumed that the development of the environmental policy of the state, Russian legislation, scientific aspects of environmental law is one of the forms of ensuring the environmental safety of the population, protecting the natural environment and rational use of its resources. Another side of environmental law is compensation for harm caused to nature or human health. It should be carried out in conjunction with economic, political, moral, educational, educational measures, etc.
Thus, this topic, which focuses on integrated approaches to the impact of environmental factors on human health, is undoubtedly very relevant and needs to be researched.
I. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Environmental factor - a condition of the environment that affects the body. The environment includes all bodies and phenomena with which the organism is in direct or indirect relations.The same environmental factor has different meaning in the lives of living organisms. For example, the salt regime of the soil plays a paramount role in mineral nutrition plants, but is indifferent to most land animals. The intensity of illumination and the spectral composition of light are extremely important in the life of phototrophic plants, while in the life of heterotrophic organisms (fungi and aquatic animals), light does not have a noticeable effect on their vital activity.
Environmental factors act on organisms in different ways. They can act as stimuli causing adaptive changes in physiological functions; as constraints that make it impossible for certain organisms to exist under given conditions; as modifiers that determine morphological and anatomical changes in organisms.
Classification environmental factors:
It is customary to single out biotic, anthropogenic and abiotic environmental factors.
Biotic factors are the whole set of environmental factors associated with the activity of living organisms. These include phytogenic (plants), zoogenic (animals), microbiogenic (microorganisms) factors.
Abiotic factors are the whole set of factors associated with processes in inanimate nature. These include climatic (temperature, humidity, pressure), edaphogenic (mechanical composition, air permeability, soil density), orographic (relief, altitude), chemical (gas composition of air, salt composition of water, concentration, acidity), physical (noise, magnetic fields, thermal conductivity, radioactivity, cosmic radiation).
Anthropogenic factors - the whole set of factors associated with human activity. These include physical (the use of atomic energy, movement in trains and planes, the impact of noise and vibration, etc.), chemical (the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, pollution of the Earth's shells with industrial and transport waste); biological (food products; organisms for which a person may be a habitat or a source of food), social (related to human relations and life in society) factors.
Anthropogenic impacts are understood as activities related to the implementation of economic, military, recreational, cultural and other human interests, making physical, chemical, biological and other changes in the natural environment.
Wednesday. By their nature, depth and area of distribution, time of action and nature of application, they can be different: targeted and spontaneous, direct and indirect, long-term and short-term, point and area, etc.
Anthropogenic impacts on the biosphere according to their environmental impact divided into positive and negative (negative). Positive impacts include the reproduction of natural resources, the restoration of groundwater reserves, field-protective afforestation, land reclamation at the site of mineral development, etc.
Negative (negative) impacts on the biosphere include all types of impacts created by man and oppressing nature. Unprecedented in terms of power and diversity, negative anthropogenic impacts began to manifest themselves especially sharply in the second half of the 20th century. Under their influence, the natural biota of ecosystems ceased to serve as a guarantor of the stability of the biosphere, as had been observed previously over billions of years.
The negative (negative) impact is manifested in the most diverse and large-scale actions: the depletion of natural resources, deforestation over large areas, salinization and desertification of lands, reduction in the number and species of animals and plants, etc. The main global factors of environmental destabilization include (Ecological Doctrine of the Russian Federation, 2002):
growth in consumption of natural resources with their reduction;
the growth of the world's population with a reduction in habitable territories;
degradation of the main components of the biosphere, a decrease in the ability of nature to self-sustain;
- possible climate change and depletion of the Earth's ozone layer;
- reduction of biological diversity;
- increasing environmental damage from natural disasters and man-made disasters;
- insufficient level of coordination of actions of the world community in the field of solving environmental problems.
Pollution is the main and most widespread type of negative human impact on the biosphere. Most of the most acute environmental situations in the world are somehow related to environmental pollution (Chernobyl, acid rain, hazardous waste, etc.)
II. ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACT ON THE BIOSPHERE
1. CURRENT STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Let's look at some features state of the art biospheres and processes,taking place in it.
Global processes of formation and movement of living matter in the biosphere
connected and accompanied by the circulation of huge masses of matter and energy.
Unlike purely geological processes, biogeochemical cycles with
participation of living matter have a much higher intensity,
the rate and amount of the substance involved in the circulation.
As already mentioned, with the advent and development of mankind, the process
evolution has changed markedly. In the early stages of civilization, logging and
burning forests for agriculture, grazing, fishing and hunting for wild
animals, wars devastated entire regions, led to the destruction
plant communities, the extermination of certain animal species. As
development of civilization, especially rapid after the industrial revolution
the end of the Middle Ages, humanity seized more and more power, everything
greater ability to engage and use to satisfy their
growing needs of huge masses of matter - both organic,
living, and mineral, inert.
Population growth and expanding development Agriculture,
industry, construction, transport caused mass destruction
forests in Europe, North America, grazing on a large scale
led to the death of forests and grass cover, to erosion (destruction)
soil layer (Central Asia, North Africa, southern Europe and the USA).
Exterminated dozens of animal species in Europe, America, Africa.
Scientists suggest that the depletion of soils in the territory of the ancient
Mayan state of Central America as a result of slash-and-burn
agriculture was one of the reasons for the death of this highly developed
civilization. Similarly, in ancient Greece, vast forests disappeared in
as a result of deforestation and overgrazing. This increased soil erosion
and led to the destruction of the soil cover on many mountain slopes,
increased the aridity of the climate and worsened the conditions for agriculture
economy.
Construction and operation of industrial enterprises, mining
fossils have led to serious disturbances of natural landscapes,
pollution of soil, water, air by various wastes.
Real shifts in biospheric processes began in the 20th century. as a result
another industrial revolution. The rapid development of energy
engineering, chemistry, transport has led to the fact that human
activities have become comparable in scale with natural energy
and material processes occurring in the biosphere. Intensity
human consumption of energy and material resources is growing
in proportion to the population and even ahead of its growth.
Warning of the possible consequences of expanding human encroachment
into nature, half a century ago Academician V. I. Vernadsky wrote: “Man
becomes a geological force capable of changing the face of the Earth.” it
the warning was prophetically justified. Consequences of anthropogenic
(man-made) activities are manifested in the depletion of natural
resources, pollution of the biosphere by production waste, destruction
natural ecosystems, changing the structure of the Earth's surface, changing
climate. Anthropogenic impacts lead to the violation of almost all
natural biogeochemical cycles.
As a result of burning various fuels into the atmosphere annually
about 20 billion tons are emitted carbon dioxide and absorbed
appropriate amount of oxygen. Natural stock of CO2 in the atmosphere
is about 50,000 billion tons. This value fluctuates and
depends, in particular, on volcanic activity. However, anthropogenic
carbon dioxide emissions exceed natural ones and currently amount to
time a large proportion of its total. Increasing concentration
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, accompanied by an increase in the amount
aerosol (fine particles of dust, soot, suspensions of solutions of some
chemical compounds), can lead to noticeable climate changes and
correspondingly to the violation of the existing over millions of years
equilibrium relationships in the biosphere.
The result of the violation of the transparency of the atmosphere, and consequently, the thermal
balance may be the emergence of a "greenhouse effect", that is
an increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere by several degrees. it
capable of causing the melting of glaciers in the polar regions, an increase in the level
of the World Ocean, changes in its salinity, temperature, global
climate disturbances, flooding of coastal lowlands and many others
adverse consequences.
Air emissions of industrial gases, including compounds such as
carbon monoxide CO ( carbon monoxide), oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, ammonia and other
pollutants, leads to the inhibition of the vital activity of plants and
animals, metabolic disorders, poisoning and death of living
organisms.
Unmanaged impact on climate combined with irrational management
agriculture can lead to a significant reduction
soil fertility, large fluctuations in crop yields. According to
UN experts, in recent years, fluctuations in agricultural products
exceeded 1%. But a decrease in food production by even 1%
can lead to the death of tens of millions of people from starvation.
Catastrophically reduced forests on our planet, Irrational
deforestation and fires have led to the fact that in many places, once
completely covered with forests, to date they have survived only on
10-30% of the territory. The African rainforest area has decreased by 70%,
South America - by 60%, in China, only 8% of the territory is covered with forest.
Pollution of the natural environment. The appearance in the natural environment of new
components caused by human activity or any
grandiose natural phenomena(for example, volcanic
activity), characterized by the term pollution. In general
pollution is the presence in the environment harmful substances,
disrupting the functioning of ecological systems or their individual
elements that reduce the quality of the environment in terms of human habitation
or their business activities. This term describes
all bodies, substances, phenomena, processes that are in a given place, but not in
that time and not in the amount that is natural for nature,
appear in the environment and can bring its systems out of state
balance.
The environmental impact of pollutants can be
differently; it can affect either individual organisms (manifest
at the organism level, or populations, biocenoses, ecosystems, and even
the biosphere as a whole.
At the organismic level, there may be a violation of individual
physiological functions of organisms, changes in their behavior, reduction
growth and development rates, reduced resistance to the impacts of other
adverse environmental factors.
At the population level, pollution can change population numbers.
and biomass, fertility, mortality, changes in structure, annual cycles
migrations and a number of other functional properties.
At the biocenotic level, pollution affects the structure and
community functions. The same pollutants have different effects
on different components of communities. Accordingly, quantitative
ratios in the biocenosis, up to the complete disappearance of some forms and
the appearance of others. The spatial structure of communities is changing, chains
decomposition (detrital) begins to prevail over pasture, dying -
over products. Ultimately, ecosystems are degraded,
deterioration of them as elements of the human environment, a decrease in their positive role in
formation of the biosphere, depreciation in economic terms.
There are natural and anthropogenic pollution. natural pollution
occurs as a result of natural causes - volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, catastrophic floods and fires. Anthropogenic
pollution is the result of human activity.
At present, the total capacity of anthropogenic pollution sources
in many cases surpasses the power of natural ones. Yes, natural
sources of nitric oxide emit 30 million tons of nitrogen per year, and anthropogenic
- 35-50 million tons; sulfur dioxide, respectively, about 30 million tons and more than 150
million tons As a result of human activities, lead enters the biosphere
almost 10 times more than in the process of natural pollution.
Pollutants from economic activities
human, and their impact on the environment are very diverse. These include:
compounds of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, heavy metals, various
organic matter, man-made materials, radioactive
elements and more.
Thus, according to experts, about 10 million tons enter the ocean every year.
oil. Oil on water forms a thin film that prevents gas exchange
between water and air. Settling to the bottom, oil enters the bottom
sediments, where it disrupts the natural processes of life of the bottom
animals and microorganisms. In addition to oil, emissions of
ocean of domestic and industrial wastewater containing, in particular, such
dangerous pollutants like lead, mercury, arsenic, which have a strong
toxic action. Background concentrations of such substances in many
places have already exceeded dozens of times.
Each pollutant has a certain negative impact on
nature, so their entry into the environment must be strictly
controlled. The legislation establishes "for each
pollutant maximum allowable discharge (MPD) and maximum
permissible concentration (MPC) of it in the natural environment.
The maximum allowable discharge (MPD) is the mass of a pollutant,
emitted by individual sources per unit of time, excess
which leads to adverse effects in the environment or
dangerous to human health. Maximum Permissible Concentration (MAC)
is understood as the amount of a harmful substance in the environment, which
does not adversely affect human health or
offspring in permanent or temporary contact with him. Currently
when determining MPC, not only the degree of influence of pollutants is taken into account
on human health, but also their impact on animals, plants, fungi,
microorganisms, as well as the natural community as a whole.
Special environmental monitoring (observation) services
exercise control over compliance with the established standards of MPD and MPC
harmful substances. Such services have been established in all regions of the country. Especially
their important role in major cities, near chemical plants, nuclear
power plants and other industrial facilities. Monitoring services have
the right to apply the measures prescribed by law, up to the suspension
production and any work, if environmental protection standards are violated
environment.
In addition to environmental pollution, anthropogenic impact is expressed in
depletion of the natural resources of the biosphere. Huge scale of use
natural resources have led to a significant change in landscapes in
some regions (for example, in the coal basins). If at dawn
civilization, man used for his needs only about 20 chemical
elements, at the beginning of the XX 60 flowed in, now more than 100 - almost all
periodic table. Annually mined (extracted from the geosphere) about
100 billion tons of ore, fuel, mineral fertilizers.
Rapid growth in demand for fuel, metals, minerals and their
mining led to the depletion of these resources. Thus, according to experts,
while maintaining modern rates of production and consumption, explored
oil reserves will be exhausted in 30 years, gas - in 50 years, coal
- after 200. A similar situation has developed not only with energy
resources, but also with metals (depletion of aluminum reserves is expected in
500-600 years, iron - 250 years, zinc - 25 years, lead - 20 years) and
mineral resources such as asbestos, mica, graphite, sulfur.
This is a far from complete picture of the ecological situation on our planet in
present time. Even individual successes in environmental protection
can appreciably change the overall course of the process of harmful influence
civilization on the state of the biosphere.
2. ATMOSPHERE - THE OUTER SHELL OF THE BIOSPHERE. AIR POLLUTION.
The mass of the atmosphere of our planet is negligible - only one millionththe masses of the earth. However, its role in the natural processes of the biosphere is enormous.
The presence of an atmosphere around the globe determines the general thermal regime
surface of our planet, protects it from harmful space and
ultraviolet radiation. Atmospheric circulation affects
local climatic conditions, and through them - on the regime of rivers,
soil and vegetation cover and on the processes of relief formation.
The modern gas composition of the atmosphere is the result of a long
historical development the globe. It represents mainly
a gas mixture of two components - nitrogen (78.09%) and oxygen (20.95%). AT
Normally, it also contains argon (0.93%), carbon dioxide (0.03%) and
small amounts of inert gases (neon, helium, krypton, xenon),
ammonia, methane, ozone, sulfur dioxide and other gases. Along with gases in
atmosphere contains particulate matter coming from the Earth's surface
(e.g. products of combustion, volcanic activity, soil particles)
and from space cosmic dust), as well as various products
vegetable, animal or microbial origin. Besides,
Water vapor plays an important role in the atmosphere.
The three gases that make up the most important for various ecosystems are
Atmospheric composition: oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. These gases are involved in
main biogeochemical cycles.
Oxygen plays an essential role in the life of most living organisms.
our planet. It is necessary for everyone to breathe. Oxygen was not always included
into the earth's atmosphere. It appeared as a result of life
photosynthetic organisms. Under the influence of ultraviolet rays,
turned into ozone. With the accumulation of ozone, the formation
ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. The ozone layer is like a screen
reliably protects the Earth's surface from ultraviolet radiation,
fatal to living organisms.
The modern atmosphere contains hardly a twentieth of oxygen,
available on our planet. The main oxygen reserves are concentrated in
carbonates, in organic substances and iron oxides, part of oxygen
dissolved in water. In the atmosphere, apparently, there was an approximate
balance between the production of oxygen during photosynthesis and its
consumption by living organisms. But lately there has been
the danger that, as a result of human activities, oxygen reserves in
atmosphere may decrease. Of particular danger is the destruction
ozone layer observed in recent years. Most scientists
associated with human activity.
The oxygen cycle in the biosphere is unusually complex, since with it
reacts with a large number of organic and inorganic
substances, as well as hydrogen, combining with which oxygen forms water.
Carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide) is used in the process of photosynthesis
for the formation of organic matter. It is through this process
closes the carbon cycle in the biosphere. Like oxygen, carbon
is a part of soils, plants, animals, participates in diverse
mechanisms of the circulation of substances in nature. The content of carbon dioxide in
the air we breathe is about the same in different areas
planets. The exception is large cities, in which the content
this gas in the air is higher than normal.
Some fluctuations in the content of carbon dioxide in the air of the area
depend on the time of day, season of the year, vegetation biomass. At the same
time studies show that since the beginning of the century, the average content
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, although slowly but constantly
increases. Scholars attribute this process to
human activity.
Nitrogen is an indispensable nutrient because it is part of
proteins and nucleic acids. The atmosphere is an inexhaustible reservoir of nitrogen,
however, the bulk of living organisms cannot directly
use this nitrogen: it must be pre-bound in the form
chemical compounds.
Part of the nitrogen comes from the atmosphere to ecosystems in the form of nitric oxide,
formed under the action of electrical discharges during thunderstorms. However
most of the nitrogen enters the water and soil as a result of its
biological fixation. There are several types of bacteria and
blue-green algae (fortunately, very numerous), which
capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen. As a result of their activities,
also due to the decomposition of organic residues in the soil
autotrophic plants get the opportunity to absorb the necessary nitrogen.
The nitrogen cycle is closely related to the carbon cycle. Despite
that the nitrogen cycle is more complex than the carbon cycle, it tends to
happens faster.
Other constituents of air do not participate in biochemical cycles, but
the presence of a large number of pollutants in the atmosphere can lead to
serious violations of these cycles.
Air pollution. Various negative changes in the Earth's atmosphere
associated mainly with changes in the concentration of minor
atmospheric air components.
There are two main sources of air pollution: natural and
anthropogenic. The natural source is volcanoes, dust storms,
weathering, forest fires, processes of decomposition of plants and animals.
The main anthropogenic sources of air pollution are
enterprises of the fuel and energy complex, transport, various
engineering companies.
According to scientists (1990s), every year in the world as a result of the activities
25.5 billion tons of carbon oxides enter the atmosphere, 190 million tons
sulfur oxides, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.4 million tons of chlorofluorocarbons
(freons), organic lead compounds, hydrocarbons, including
carcinogenic (causing cancer).
In addition to gaseous pollutants, a large amount of
the amount of solid particles. These are dust, soot and soot. Great danger
conceals environmental pollution with heavy metals. Lead, cadmium,
mercury, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, vanadium have become almost permanent
air components of industrial centers. The problem is especially acute
lead air pollution.
Global air pollution affects the state
natural ecosystems, especially on the green cover of our planet. One of
The most obvious indicators of the state of the biosphere are their forests.
well-being.
Acid rain caused mainly by sulfur dioxide and oxides
nitrogen, cause great harm to forest biocenoses. It has been found that conifers
rocks are more affected by acid rain than
broad-leaved.
Only on the territory of our country the total area of forests affected by
industrial emissions, reached 1 million hectares. A significant factor
forest degradation in recent years is environmental pollution
radionuclides. So, as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,
2.1 million hectares of forests.
Green spaces in industrial cities are particularly affected,
the atmosphere contains a large amount of pollutants.
Air environmental problem of ozone depletion, including
the appearance of ozone holes over Antarctica and the Arctic is associated with excessive
the use of freons in production and everyday life.
3. SOIL IS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT
BIOSPHERES. SOIL POLLUTION.
Soil - the top layer of land formed under the influence of plants,animals, microorganisms and climate from parent rocks, on
which he is. This is an important and complex component of the biosphere, closely
associated with other parts.
The following main components interact in a complex way in the soil:
Mineral particles (sand, clay), water, air;
Detritus - dead organic matter, the remains of vital activity
plants and animals;
Many living organisms - from detritophages to decomposers,
decomposing detritus to humus.
Thus, the soil is a bio-inert system based on dynamic
interaction between mineral components, detritus, detritus feeders
and soil organisms.
Soils go through several stages in their development and formation. Young
soils are usually the result of weathering of parent rocks
or transport of sediment deposits (eg alluvium). On these substrates
microorganisms settle, pioneer plants - lichens, mosses, grasses,
small animals. Gradually, other types of plants and animals are introduced,
the composition of the biocenosis becomes more complicated, between the mineral substrate and living
organisms develop a whole series of relationships. As a result, a
mature soil, the properties of which depend on the original parent rock and
climate.
The process of soil development ends when equilibrium is reached,
conformity of the soil with the vegetation cover and climate, that is, there is
climax state. Thus, soil changes occurring in
the process of its formation, resemble successional changes in ecosystems.
Each type of soil corresponds to certain types of plant
communities. So, pine forests, as a rule, grow on light sandy
soils, while spruce forests prefer heavier and nutrient-rich
loamy soils.
The soil is, as it were, a living organism, inside which flows
various complex processes. To keep the soil in good
state, it is necessary to know the nature of the metabolic processes of all its
components.
The surface layers of the soil usually contain a lot of plant remains and
animal organisms, the decomposition of which leads to the formation of humus.
The amount of humus determines the fertility of the soil.
Soil is home to a wide variety of living organisms.
edaphobionts that form a complex food detritus web: bacteria,
microfungi, algae, protozoa, mollusks, arthropods and their larvae,
earthworms and many others. All these organisms play an important role in
soil formation and changes in its physical and chemical characteristics.
Plants absorb essential minerals from the soil, but after
the death of plant organisms, the removed elements are returned to the soil.
Soil organisms gradually process all organic residues.
Thus, in natural conditions there is a constant circulation
substances in the soil.
In artificial agrocenoses, such a cycle is disturbed, since a person
seizes a significant part of agricultural products, using it
for your needs. Due to the non-participation of this part of the products in the soil cycle
becomes barren. To avoid this and improve soil fertility
in artificial agrocenoses, a person introduces organic and mineral
fertilizers.
Soil pollution. Under normal natural conditions, all processes
occurring in the soil are in balance. But often in violation
the equilibrium state of the soil is the fault of man. As a result of development
human economic activity is polluted, changing
soil composition and even its destruction. At present, per inhabitant
our planet has less than one hectare of arable land. And these
insignificant areas continue to shrink due to inept
human economic activity.
Huge areas of fertile lands are being destroyed by mining
works, in the construction of enterprises and cities. Deforestation and
natural grass cover, multiple plowing of land without
compliance with the rules of agricultural technology leads to soil erosion -
destruction and washout of the fertile layer by water and wind. erosion in
has now become a worldwide evil. It is estimated that only
the last century as a result of water and wind erosion on the planet
lost 2 billion hectares of fertile lands of active agricultural
use.
One of the consequences of increased human production activity
is intense soil pollution. As the main
soil pollutants are metals and their compounds, radioactive
elements, as well as fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture
economy.
Mercury and its compounds are among the most dangerous soil pollutants.
Mercury enters the environment with pesticides, waste
industrial enterprises containing metallic mercury and its various
connections.
Lead contamination of soils is even more widespread and dangerous.
It is known that when smelting one ton of lead into the environment with
waste throws it up to 25 kg. Lead compounds are used in
as additives to gasoline, so motor transport is a serious
source of lead pollution. Especially a lot of lead in soils along
major freeways.
Soils near large centers of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy are polluted
iron, copper, zinc, manganese, nickel, aluminum and others
metals. In many places, their concentration is tens of times higher than the MPC.
Radioactive elements can enter the soil and accumulate in it in
as a result of precipitation from atomic explosions or when removing liquid
and solid waste from industrial enterprises, nuclear power plants or
research institutions related to the study and
using atomic energy. radioactive substances come from the soil
into plants, then into organisms of animals and humans, accumulate in them.
A significant influence on the chemical composition of soils has a modern
agriculture, widely using fertilizers and various chemical
substances to control pests, weeds and plant diseases. AT
currently the amount of substances involved in the cycle in the process
agricultural activity, approximately the same as in the process
industrial production. At the same time, every year the production and
the use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture is increasing.
Their inept and uncontrolled use leads to a violation
circulation of substances in the biosphere.
Persistent organic compounds are of particular concern.
used as pesticides. They accumulate in soil, water,
bottom sediments of reservoirs. But most importantly, they are included in
ecological food chains, move from soil and water to plants, then
in animals, and eventually enter the human body with food.
4.WATER - THE BASIS OF LIFE PROCESSES
IN THE BIOSPHERE. POLLUTION OF NATURAL WATER.
Water is the most common inorganic compound in ourplanet. Water is the basis of all life processes, the only source
oxygen. in the main driving process on Earth - photosynthesis. Water
is present throughout the biosphere: not only in water bodies, but also in the air, and in
soil, and in all living things. The latter contain up to 80-90% of water in
its biomass. Losses of 10-20% of water by living organisms lead to their
death.
In its natural state, water is never free from impurities. In her
various gases and salts are dissolved, there are suspended solid particles.
1 liter of fresh water can contain up to 1 g of salts.
Most of the water is concentrated in the seas and oceans. To fresh water
accounts for only 2%. Most of the fresh water (85%) is concentrated in
ice of polar zones and glaciers. Renewal of fresh water occurs in
result of the water cycle.
With the advent of life on Earth, the water cycle has become relatively complex,
since the simple phenomenon of physical evaporation (the transformation of water into
steam) added more complex processes associated with the vital activity
living organisms. In addition, the role of a person as he develops
becomes more and more significant in this cycle.
The water cycle in the biosphere occurs as follows. Water falls out
on the Earth's surface in the form of precipitation formed from water vapor
atmosphere. Some of the precipitation that falls evaporates directly from
surface, returning to the atmosphere as water vapor. Other part
penetrates the soil, is absorbed by the roots of plants and then, passing through
plants, evaporates during transpiration. The third part is leaking
into the deep layers of the subsoil to water-resistant horizons, replenishing underground
water. The fourth part in the form of surface, river and underground runoff
flows into water bodies, from where it also evaporates into the atmosphere. Finally, part
used by animals and consumed by humans for their needs. All
The water evaporated and returned to the atmosphere condenses and re-
falls as precipitation.
Thus, one of the main ways of the water cycle is transpiration,
that is, biological evaporation, carried out by plants, supporting
their vitality. The amount of water released as a result
transpiration depends on the plant species, type of plant communities, their
biomass, climatic factors, seasons and other conditions.
The rate of transpiration and the mass of water evaporated during this can
reach very significant values. In communities such as forests (with
large phytomass and leaf surface) or swamps (with water-saturated
moss surface) transpiration is generally quite comparable with evaporation
open water bodies (ocean) and often even exceeds it. On average for
in temperate plant communities, transpiration ranges from
2000 to 6000 m of water per year.
The value of total evaporation (from the soil, from the surface of plants and through
transpiration) depends on physiological features plants and their
biomass, therefore serves as an indirect indicator of vital activity and
community productivity. Vegetation as a whole plays a role
grand evaporator, while significantly affecting the climate
territory. The vegetation cover of landscapes, especially forests and swamps,
also has a huge water-protective and water-regulating value, softening
fluctuations in runoff (floods), contributing to the retention of moisture, preventing
desiccation and soil erosion.
Pollution of natural waters. Water pollution refers to the reduction
their biospheric functions and economic importance as a result of
they contain harmful substances.
One of the main water pollutants is oil and oil products.
Oil can get into the water as a result of its natural releases into
areas of occurrence. But the main sources of pollution are associated with
human activities: oil production, transportation, processing
and the use of oil as a fuel and industrial raw material.
Among industrial products special place in my own way
negative impact on the aquatic environment and living organisms
toxic synthetic substances. They find ever wider
application in industry, transport, household
economy. The concentration of these compounds in wastewater is usually
is 5-15 mg / l with MPC - 0.1 mg / l. These substances can form
in reservoirs, a layer of foam, especially clearly visible on rapids, rifts,
gateways. The ability to foam in these substances appears already at
concentrations of 1-2 mg / l.
Of the other pollutants, it is necessary to name metals (for example, mercury,
lead, zinc, copper, chromium, tin, manganese), radioactive elements,
pesticides coming from agricultural fields and runoff
livestock farms. little danger to aquatic environment from metals
represent mercury, lead and their compounds.
Extended production (no treatment plant) and application
pesticides in the fields lead to severe pollution of water bodies with harmful
compounds. Pollution of the aquatic environment occurs as a result of direct
the introduction of pesticides in the treatment of water bodies for pest control,
inflows into water bodies of water flowing from the surface of the treated
agricultural land, when dumping waste from enterprises into water bodies -
manufacturers, as well as as a result of losses during transportation,
storage and partly with precipitation.
Along with pesticides, agricultural effluents contain a significant
the amount of fertilizer residues (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) applied to the fields.
In addition, large quantities organic compounds nitrogen and phosphorus
get with runoff from livestock farms, as well as with sewer
drains. Increasing the concentration of nutrients in the soil leads to
violation of the biological balance in the reservoir.
Initially, in such a reservoir, the number of microscopic
algae. With an increase in the food supply, the amount
crustaceans, fish and others aquatic organisms. Then there is a death
a huge number of organisms. It leads to the consumption of all
reserves of oxygen contained in water, and the accumulation of hydrogen sulfide.
The situation in the reservoir changes so much that it becomes unusable
for the existence of any form of organisms. The reservoir gradually "dies".
One of the types of water pollution is thermal pollution.
Power plants, industrial plants often dump heated
water into a pond. This leads to an increase in the temperature of the water in it. FROM
an increase in the temperature in the reservoir decreases the amount of oxygen,
the toxicity of water pollutants increases, the
biological balance.
In polluted water, as the temperature rises, they begin to multiply rapidly
pathogenic microorganisms and viruses. Once in drinking water, they can
cause outbreaks of various diseases.
In a number of regions important source fresh water was groundwater.
Previously, they were considered the purest. But now as a result
human activities, many sources of groundwater
are also contaminated. Often this pollution is so
great that the water from them became undrinkable.
Mankind consumes a huge amount of fresh water for its needs.
Its main consumers are industry and agriculture.
The most water-intensive industries are mining,
steel, chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper and
food. They take up to 70% of all water used in industry.
The main consumer of fresh water is agriculture: for its needs
takes 60-80% of all fresh water.
In modern conditions, human needs for water are greatly increasing.
for household needs. The volume of water consumed for these purposes
depends on the region and standard of living, ranged from 3 to 700 liters per person
person, In Moscow, for example, each inhabitant accounts for about 650 liters,
which is one of the highest rates in the world.
From the analysis of water use over the past 5-6 decades, it follows that
annual increase in non-returnable water consumption, at which
used water is irretrievably lost to nature, is 4-5%.
Forward-looking calculations show that while maintaining such rates
consumption and taking into account population growth and production volumes by 2100
d. mankind can exhaust all fresh water reserves.
Already at the present time, not only
territories that nature has deprived of water resources, but also many
regions that until recently were considered prosperous in this respect. AT
Currently, the need for fresh water is not met by 20%
urban and 75% of the rural population of the planet.
human intervention in natural processes affected even large rivers
(such as the Volga, Don, Dnieper) by changing the volumes
transported water masses (river runoff). used in agriculture
Most of the water is used for evaporation and formation
plant biomass and therefore does not return to the rivers. Already
now in the most populated areas of the country, the flow of rivers has decreased by 8%, and in
such rivers as the Don, Terek, Ural - by 11-20%. A very dramatic fate
the Aral Sea, which, in fact, ceased to exist due to excessive
water intake of the Syrdarya and Amudarya rivers for irrigation.
Limited fresh water supplies are further reduced due to their
pollution. The main hazard is wastewater (industrial,
agricultural and domestic), since a significant part
used water is returned to water basins in the form of wastewater.
5. RADIATION IN THE BIOSPHERE.
Radiation pollution have a significant difference from others.Radioactive nuclides are the nuclei of unstable chemical elements,
emitting charged particles and short-wave electromagnetic
radiation. It is these particles and radiation that enter the human body
destroy cells, resulting in various diseases, in
including the beam.
There are natural sources of radioactivity everywhere in the biosphere, and
man, like all living organisms, has always been subjected to natural
irradiation. External exposure occurs due to cosmic radiation
origin and radioactive nuclides present in the environment.
Internal exposure is created by radioactive elements entering the
the human body with air, water and food.
To quantify the effects of radiation on humans
units are used - the biological equivalent of a roentgen (rem) or sievert
(Sv): 1 Sv = 100 rem. Because radiation can cause
serious changes in the body, each person should know the permissible
his dose.
As a result of internal and external exposure, a person during the year in
on average receives a dose of 0.1 rem and, consequently, in his entire life about
7 rem. In these doses, radiation does not harm a person. However, there
areas where the annual dose is above average. So, for example, people
living in high mountainous areas, due to cosmic radiation can
get a dose several times larger. Large doses of radiation can be
in areas where the content of natural radioactive sources
great. So, for example, in Brazil (200 km from Sao Paulo) there are
elevation, where the annual dose is 25 rem. This area
uninhabited.
The greatest danger is the radioactive contamination of the biosphere in
the result of human activity. Currently radioactive
elements are widely used in various fields. Robe
attitude towards the storage and transportation of these elements leads to
serious radioactive contamination. Radioactive contamination of the biosphere
connected, for example, with the testing of atomic weapons.
In the second half of our century, nuclear power plants began to be put into operation.
power plants, icebreakers, nuclear powered submarines. At
normal operation of nuclear facilities and industry
environmental pollution with radioactive nuclides is
a negligible fraction of the natural background. A different situation develops
in case of accidents at nuclear facilities.
So, during the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,
only about 5% of the nuclear fuel was released, but this led to radiation exposure
many people, large areas were so polluted that they became
dangerous to health. This required the relocation of thousands of residents from
infected areas. Increased radiation as a result of fallout
radioactive fallout was observed hundreds and thousands of kilometers from
accident sites.
Currently, the problem of warehousing and storage is becoming more and more acute.
radioactive waste of the military industry and nuclear power plants. FROM
every year they pose an increasing danger to the environment.
environment. Thus, the use of nuclear energy has put before
mankind new serious problems.
6. ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE BIOSPHERE
Human economic activity, acquiring an increasingly globalcharacter, begins to have a very tangible impact on the processes
occurring in the biosphere. You have already learned about some of the results
human activities and their impact on the biosphere. Fortunately, before
a certain level, the biosphere is capable of self-regulation, which allows
minimize the negative impacts of human activities. But
there is a limit when the biosphere is no longer able to support
equilibrium. Irreversible processes begin, leading to environmental
disasters. Humanity has already encountered them in a number of regions.
planets.
Mankind has significantly changed the course of a number of processes in
biosphere, including the biochemical cycle and migration of a number of
elements. Currently, although slowly, there is a qualitative and
quantitative restructuring of the entire biosphere of the planet. There has already been a series
the most complex environmental problems of the biosphere that need to be resolved
soon.
"Greenhouse effect" . According to the latest data of scientists, for the 80s. average
The air temperature in the northern hemisphere has risen since
the end of the 19th century. by 0.5-0.6 "S. According to forecasts, by the beginning of 2000 the average
the temperature on the planet can rise by 1.2 "C compared to
pre-industrial era. Scientists attribute this rise in temperature to
first of all with an increase in the content of carbon dioxide (dioxide
carbon) and aerosols in the atmosphere. This leads to overabsorption
air of thermal radiation of the Earth. Obviously, a role in
creating the so-called "greenhouse effect" plays and heat,
emitted from thermal power plants and nuclear power plants.
Climate warming can lead to intensive melting of glaciers and
rising sea levels. Changes that may occur
therefore, it is simply difficult to predict.
This problem could be solved by reducing carbon emissions.
into the atmosphere and balancing the carbon cycle.
Depletion of the ozone layer. In recent years, scientists have become increasingly anxious
note the depletion of the ozone layer of the atmosphere, which is protective
screen from ultraviolet radiation. This process is especially fast
occurs over the poles of the planet, where the so-called ozone
holes. The danger is that ultraviolet radiation
detrimental to living organisms.
The main cause of ozone depletion is human use
chlorofluorocarbons (freons), widely used in the production and
everyday life as refrigerants, foaming agents, solvents.
aerosols. Freons intensively destroy ozone. They themselves are destroyed.
very slowly, over 50-200 years. In 1990, the world produced
more than 1300 thousand tons of ozone-depleting substances.
Under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, oxygen molecules (O2)
break down into free atoms, which in turn can
join other oxygen molecules to form ozone (O3).
Free oxygen atoms can also react with ozone molecules,
forming two oxygen molecules. So between oxygen and ozone
equilibrium is established and maintained.
However, freon-type contaminants catalyze (speed up) the process
decomposition of ozone, breaking the balance between it and oxygen towards
decrease in ozone concentration.
Given the danger looming over the planet, the international community
took the first step towards solving this problem. Signed international
agreement, according to which the production of freons in the world by 1999 should
be reduced by about 50%.
Mass deforestation is one of the most important global
environmental problems of the present.
You already know that forest communities play a critical role in normal
functioning of natural ecosystems. They absorb atmospheric
pollution of anthropogenic origin, protect the soil from erosion,
regulate the normal runoff of surface water, prevent the decrease
groundwater levels and siltation of rivers, canals and reservoirs.
Reducing the area of forests disrupts the oxygen cycle and
carbon in the biosphere.
Although the catastrophic effects of deforestation are already
widely known, their destruction continues. At present, the total
The area of forests on the planet is about 42 million km2, but it annually
decreases by 2%. Especially intensively destroyed humid tropical
forests in Asia, Africa, America and some other regions of the world. Yes, in
Africa, forests used to occupy about 60% of its territory, and now - only
about 17%. The areas of forests in our country have also significantly decreased.
The reduction of forests entails the death of their richest flora and fauna.
Man impoverishes the appearance of his planet.
However, it seems that humanity is already aware that its existence on
the planet is inextricably linked with the life and well-being of forest ecosystems.
Serious warnings of scientists, sounded in the declarations of the Organization
United Nations, other international organizations, began to find
response. In recent years, many countries around the world have successfully
carried out work on artificial afforestation and organization
highly productive forest plantations.
Waste production. Waste has become a major environmental problem.
industrial and agricultural productions. You already know what
they harm the environment. At present, attempts are being made
reduce the amount of waste polluting the environment. With this
the goal is to develop and install the most complex filters, build
expensive treatment facilities and sedimentation tanks. But practice shows
that although they reduce the risk of pollution, they still do not solve
problem. It is known that even with the most perfect cleaning, including
biological, all dissolved minerals and up to 10%
organic pollutants remain in treated wastewater.
Waters of this quality can become suitable for consumption only after
repeated dilution with clean water.
By
etc.................
To consider how the environment affects the human body throughout its life from birth to death, it is convenient to divide environmental factors according to the nature of their impact on physical, chemical, biological and social.
physical factors. A person throughout his postnatal life constantly interacts with two main physical factors to which the body has to continuously adapt - this is the ambient temperature and gravity (gravity). The reaction of the body to both of these factors is most directly related to the mass, geometric dimensions and proportions of the body, which change with age. Other physical factors that also determine the characteristics of the human environment affect the body regardless of its shape and size (for example, humidity, atmospheric pressure, gas composition of the surrounding air, insolation, etc.).
Temperature - permanent factor of variable value. The cells of the body need a constant temperature of about 37 ° C for their normal functioning, a change in temperature by 10 ° C in one direction or another can change the rate of all biochemical reactions by 2-3 times, and their consistency in this case will be violated. If the body temperature drops below +25 or rises above +42 "C, the cells of the body die and death occurs.
Changes in external temperature require adaptation of the organism to this variable factor. In this case, the dimensions and proportions of the body are very important, since, according to physical laws, the intensity of heat production in the body is proportional to its mass, and the rate of heat transfer is proportional to the surface area of the body. The change in size and proportions that occurs as a result of growth directly affects the balance of production and heat transfer. The child has a relatively large body surface (i.e., the child has a smaller amount of mass per 1 cm 2 of the surface), so for him the task of removing excess heat is easier to solve than generating an additional amount of heat. At the same time, the relatively large surface of the child's body leads to the fact that at low temperatures it cools faster.
The elevated temperature of the environment requires - in order to avoid overheating - the activation of functions that promote heat transfer: surface skin blood flow increases, as well as pulmonary ventilation and sweating - all this contributes to the transfer of heat from the "core" of the body to its surface and the release of excess heat into the surrounding space. A low temperature, on the contrary, requires the preservation of heat in the body: the skin blood vessels narrow, the activity of external respiration decreases, sweating stops and heat production increases due to an increase in the intensity of metabolism.
In the body of an adult, additional heat during cooling is formed mainly in the liver and skeletal muscles (everyone knows when it is cold, we begin to shiver - this is a manifestation of the thermoregulatory activity of the muscles: without doing any external work, they continuously contract, warming the blood flowing through them ).
Children have an organ specifically designed to produce additional heat - brown adipose tissue. These are fat cells that are abundantly supplied with blood and contain a huge number of mitochondria. A feature of brown fat mitochondria is their ability to “burn” a large amount of fat without producing ATP. In this case, almost all of the released energy is converted into heat. Thus, brown adipose tissue plays the role of a kind of "stove" in the child's body, which turns on every time the child becomes cold. The signal for such inclusion is the action of the sympathetic department of the central nervous system and its mediator norepinephrine, which can also come from the adrenal glands. Brown fat is located in children under the skin between the shoulder blades, along large cervical vessels, and also near large vessels inside the chest and abdominal cavity. In adults, brown adipose tissue is rare; it is a special "children's" organ that disappears as it grows older. Many lymphatic glands that provide immunity (thymus gland, tonsils, and others) behave in the same way. Acute diseases suffered by a child (pneumonia, influenza, and others) can lead to a decrease in the size and activity of brown fat. Therefore, it is so important to observe a comfortable temperature regime for sick and recovering children.
A child's body is more sensitive to changes in external temperature than an adult. The temperature range in which a person feels comfortable is from +25 to +30 °С for an adult, and from +27 to +33 °С for a child of the first year of life. Clothing provides protection from fluctuations in ambient temperature. It should be such that inside (on the surface of the skin under clothing) the temperature approaches the comfort zone. At the same time, it is important that clothing does not interfere with air exchange: after all, the skin must breathe, and the evaporation of the sweat glands must have an outlet, otherwise the skin begins to rot. which often happens with improper care of young children.
The mechanisms of thermoregulation in children begin to develop intensively at the age of 4-5 years, it is at this age that various hardening procedures are most effective, thanks to which the child's vascular reactions acquire the mobility necessary to effectively maintain a constant body temperature. Hardening allows the child to protect himself from colds and increases the overall immunity of the body.
Gravity (force of gravity) - another constantly operating factor that is associated with the mass and shape of the body. Unlike temperature, the level of gravitational influence does not fluctuate, and even differences in gravity, which can be determined with the help of precise physical instruments at the equator and at the poles of the Earth, or at sea level and high in the mountains, are not so significant, and the human body practically does not respond to them. However, any movement of a body or its part in the gravitational field requires special efforts to overcome gravity, and, consequently, additional energy costs. A change in body position (lying, sitting, standing) very significantly changes the conditions in which the vegetative systems function - blood circulation, respiration, excretion, etc. In a vertical position of the body, the heart has to perform significantly (in an adult - by 15-20%) a lot of work to overcome the hydrostatic resistance of the blood column in order to ensure normal conditions for the blood supply to tissues, especially the brain. In a child with a smaller body size, a change in his position in space affects to a lesser extent. That is why blood pressure in children is normally significantly lower than in adults, and the difference between systolic and diastolic pressure is also smaller (although, in addition to geometric dimensions, the elasticity of blood vessels, which is higher in children, and their tone, which is lower in children, also matter here than in adults).
Humidity. Absolutely dry, as well as 100% humid, the air is difficult for human breathing. In deserts and hot steppes, the air is so dry that the breath is "stopped" due to the drying of the mucous membranes of the airways. In children, the sensitivity to moisture loss is higher than in adults, which must be taken into account, especially when organizing the physical activity of children in the summer heat, which is always associated with the activation of breathing. In tropical and hot countries with a maritime climate, as well as in the summer months in areas where there are many natural water bodies, there is excess humidity, which also reduces the efficiency of the lungs. In such situations, mental and especially physical performance is reduced, and in children to a much greater extent than in adults.
Insolation and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The sun's rays, falling on the human body, cause a change in the color of his skin (tanning), which is an adaptive response of the body. Dark skin transmits the radiant energy of the sun to a lesser extent deep into the body, protecting cells from ultraviolet radiation that can damage large protein molecules. Children's skin before puberty is usually much less pigmented than in adults, so the level of sun exposure for children must be strictly controlled. Even an adult can easily burn their skin in the bright sun, especially near water (the smallest droplets of water act like magnifying glasses, and their evaporation in the wind from the surface of the body creates a deceptive feeling of coolness). Overheating in the sun sunstroke) and sunburn are quite common, especially in urban children, who dramatically change the level of insolation of their skin with the beginning of the holidays. Residents of rural areas, as a rule, are more adapted to the effects of sunlight, have darker skin, and the change of seasons and the associated change in the level of insolation for them occurs more smoothly and gradually.
Not only the sun, but also other sources of electromagnetic radiation can be dangerous if this radiation exceeds hygienically acceptable standards. In particular, such sources are television and radio transmitting devices, including cell phones. Children's contact with such sources should be limited, since children's bodies are more sensitive to radiation than adults. For the same reason, children are prescribed various kinds of medical procedures related to the use of X-rays to a limited extent and only because of necessity.
Sources of radioactive radiation are of particular danger. The consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are especially difficult because a large number of children suffered, in whom, under the influence of radioactive radiation, the hormonal regulation of functions is disturbed, first of all. Especially often in such cases there is a lesion of the thyroid gland, as well as the sex glands. Radioactive isotopes that remain in contaminated zones for a long time can disrupt a variety of biochemical and physiological processes, inhibit growth and development, and cause many extremely serious diseases, including radiation sickness that affects the hematopoietic system. This disease leads to a sharp loss of immunity and a weakening of the oxygen transport function of the blood, loss of sexual function, and in severe cases, death.
Partial pressure of atmospheric gases. Each gas in a vessel tends to fill the entire volume of this vessel. If there are several such gases, as is the case in our terrestrial atmosphere (which can conditionally be considered as such a vessel - although it does not have “walls”, the gases are held near the Earth by its gravitational force), then all the same, each of them fills all space. Being in a vessel, the gas exerts a certain pressure on its walls, which is the greater, the greater the amount of this gas in the vessel. Atmospheric air presses on the Earth's surface, and this pressure is equal to the weight of the air column from the Earth's surface to the upper, rarefied layers of the atmosphere. In this case, each of the gases that make up the mixture exerts its part of the pressure. This part is called "partial pressure". According to the laws of physics, the partial pressure of a gas is proportional to its quantitative (volume) fraction in a given gas mixture. The oxygen we breathe is 21% of the total atmospheric air.
The air density at sea level and high in the mountains varies greatly - with increasing altitude, the air becomes more and more rarefied: the decrease in the force of gravity affects. Atmospheric pressure also changes depending on weather conditions - in the zones of cyclonic activity it is noticeably lowered, and in the center of the anticyclone it is increased compared to the “norm”, for which the pressure of 760 mm Hg is taken. Art. - the most typical pressure at sea level in calm and clear weather. Such fluctuations in atmospheric pressure lead to the fact that the partial pressure of oxygen changes. Considering that it is the partial pressure of oxygen that is the physical factor that ensures its penetration into the body, it is easy to understand that such fluctuations in atmospheric pressure affect the supply of all body tissues with oxygen. The inhabitants of the high mountain regions, born and raised in these conditions, are well adapted to a certain lack of oxygen in the air around them, and this adaptation is fixed at the genetic level. For the inhabitants of the lowlands, it takes some time to adapt to the conditions of the highlands. The children's organism, in which the processes of oxidative metabolism proceed more intensively than in adults, is more sensitive to any changes in the partial pressure of oxygen. Perhaps that is why young children become restless and moody when a thunderstorm approaches (a zone of low atmospheric pressure). These circumstances must also be taken into account when organizing travel and recreation for children, if they involve staying in high-altitude areas: such trips are not contraindicated for children, but require compliance with a strict regimen, limitation of spontaneous motor activity and prevention of stressful conditions. It is not recommended to take small children, born and usually living on the plains, for recreation in the mountains at altitudes above 2000-2500 m.
geomagnetic fields. In recent decades, numerous research groups have been trying to find out to what extent and in what direction the changes caused by the instability of terrestrial magnetism can affect the state of the human body. Strength magnetic field Earth is large enough, and its fluctuations are clearly visible for physical devices, which served as an impetus for the study of emotional and functional shifts that occur under the influence of changes in the geomagnetic situation. Many media even inform readers and listeners about upcoming bursts of geomagnetic activity, suggesting that they take non-specific preventive measures on such days. The point of application of the action of geomagnetic fields on the human body is still unknown, although there are a huge number of hypotheses and insufficiently substantiated theories of this effect. Special measurements carried out on young healthy people (students) do not confirm the assumptions about the strong influence of geomagnetic fields on the human psyche and vegetative systems. At the same time, practical experience shows that children and the elderly are much more sensitive to weak influences than people of working age. It is quite probable that geomagnetic influences belong to just such a category. In any case, the experience of practical pediatricians confirms that the days on which a sharp change in the geomagnetic situation is predicted are the most stressful in their practice: more calls, more complex cases of diseases, etc. Protect the child from exposure geomagnetic field Earth is impossible, but it is quite realistic to help him survive the most unfavorable periods without negative consequences, you just need to show increased attention to the child on such days and take into account his unconscious needs more: in such situations, often instinctive behavior turns out to be more correct than behavior dictated by the mind.
chemical factors. A person is accustomed to living in conditions of interaction with a huge number of various substances, which together make up the biogeochemical environment of his habitat. Among these substances are necessary for a person (water, oxygen, nutrients and much more), neutral (nitrogen, many minerals, etc.), as well as poisonous or toxic. Since the body is far from being indifferent to what substances it has to deal with, there have long been hygienic standards for maximum permissible concentrations of various substances found in air, water, food, earth and other substances that a person comes into contact with in his life and activity.
Composition of atmospheric air - an important factor influencing the state and functional activity of a person. Normal atmospheric air contains 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and about 1% inert gases and various impurities, including carbon dioxide exhaled by all animals. We are accustomed to such concentrations of gases. Significant changes in the composition of the air can occur with various kinds of emergency situations and disasters. For example, if a forest or peat burns, over a large area around this area, the content of carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide CO) in the air can sharply increase, which, unlike carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide CO 2), does not stimulate respiration, but disables hemoglobin molecules , which carry oxygen molecules in the body of animals and humans. Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the main causes of death in fires, as well as due to improper use of the stove. The same result can lead to prolonged warming up of the car engine in a closed garage. Many toxic substances enter the air as a result of the work of millions of automobile engines and industrial enterprises, so the air in large cities cannot be considered harmless. In the forest zone, the air is saturated with substances emitted by trees, in particular, coniferous trees produce volatile phytoncides that help purify the air from pathogenic microbes. The air of salt caves and salt deserts has great healing power: everyone knows the amazing healing power of the surroundings of the Dead Sea, where the air is saturated with microscopic crystals of mineral salts. Sea air always has an admixture of iodine and other evaporating substances, which also affects the state of the body. It should be emphasized that the child's body is much more sensitive to changes. chemical composition air than an adult.
Water composition is a much more variable factor than the composition of the air. Water molecules themselves, of course, are always the same (although, according to modern data, water can be in 8 different physical states, each of which determines the ability of water to dissolve other substances and affect their permeability through biological membranes), but the composition and concentration of dissolved Substances in water can vary over a very wide range. Sea water is salty, undrinkable, and its composition varies somewhat in different seas. River and lake water is fresh, however, some salts are dissolved in it. Water extracted from artesian wells and wells is also very different in composition. All this can greatly affect the metabolic processes in the human body. So, we have already said above that in areas where there is little iodine in the water, thyroid dysfunction occurs in people and Graves' disease develops - a severe metabolic disorder that is treated by adding iodine salts to the diet. The presence of fluorine in water has a positive effect on the hardness of tooth enamel, and if the body receives an insufficient amount of fluorine, the teeth begin to crumble and fall out in very early age. To avoid this, in many countries water is now specially fluoridated, while simultaneously disinfecting it (in Russia, water used in cities for cooking is usually chlorinated or ozonized for disinfection). Water is an excellent breeding ground for a wide variety of microorganisms, including pathogens, that is, capable of causing various diseases in humans. Therefore, the disinfection of water used by humans is the most important concern of sanitary services. Children are particularly susceptible to germs, so only boiled water should be used for cooking and drinking for children, especially in spring and summer when conditions are favorable for germs to thrive. Taking care of water quality is an indispensable condition for the health-improving effect of children's summer holidays in rural areas (in summer camps, on hikes and expeditions, just in the countryside).
Composition and quality of food largely determined by the composition of the water and soil of the surrounding area. The chemical composition of food is also important in order to provide the body with all the necessary nutrients: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, microelements, etc. The microelement composition of the soil on which plants intended for human and domestic animal nutrition are grown is a very important factor affecting the harmony of metabolic processes and the normal course of growth and development of the child. The problem of the quality and quantity of food for children of different ages will be discussed in more detail below.
The presence of toxic substances can make any product unacceptable for use. Toxic (poisonous) substances can, under certain conditions, accumulate in the air (evaporations in the fault zone earth's crust, vehicle exhausts, industrial emissions, etc.) and water (chemical pollution due to technological processes, decomposition of organic substances in stagnant water, etc.). When these toxic substances enter the body of plants and animals, there is a possibility of them getting into human food, which can lead to severe poisoning and even death. Great care must be taken when buying early vegetables and fruits: many of them are grown using excessive amounts of fertilizers, and an excess of nitrate salts adversely affects the functioning of the human liver, gastrointestinal tract and kidneys. Toxins are also in the water due to the activity of certain microorganisms.
biological factors. Being a biological object, a person voluntarily or involuntarily interacts continuously with a huge number of living beings that surround him.
Intraspecific and interspecific interaction. On the one hand, a person needs to communicate with his own kind, and such communication necessarily affects the state of his body, since this communication causes changes in the functioning of the nervous and hormonal regulatory systems. In this case, we are not talking about socio-psychological aspects (this will be discussed later), here we mean those instinctive, purely biological reactions of the body that are not conscious of a person, which arise under the influence of other people or themselves affect others. So, each person releases into the surrounding space a whole bunch of various aromatic substances that serve for individual and gender identification. The weakness of our sense of smell (compared to the sense of smell of wild animals) does not mean that we do not catch such signals at a subconscious level and that our central nervous system does not respond to them. The appearance and unconscious aromatic portrait of a person is the basis of the so-called "first impression", which, as you know, is often the most integral and most accurate and determines the nature of the relationship with this person in the future. Another example of intraspecific interaction is the well-known state of tension when entering a crowd. Even if there is no direct threat to life and health, a person in a crowd often feels uncomfortable, he is frightened by the abundance of other human bodies surrounding him, the need to follow the unpredictable will of this conglomerate. And at the same time, to be a member of such a group, which at some point becomes a "superorganism", is one of the most attractive temptations that a person instinctively experiences. It is for this reason that, say, choral singing is so sensual: everyone who participates in the choir at some point begins to feel like a part of this superorganism, feels its power over oneself, and this feeling inspires horror, but also delivers sweetness. All this is on the verge of physiology and psychology, but it is important for us to emphasize that each such event in a person's life is a deep stress that develops according to all the laws of physiology, with a sharp activation of the secretion of the endocrine glands and autonomic reactions.
On the other hand, a person continuously interacts with representatives of other types of living beings. Even if no pets live with a person that help him relieve stress and relax, or, on the contrary, have a stressful effect (for example, daily milking of a cow is an inevitable and tedious type of work), contacts with representatives of the animal and flora it is impossible to avoid.
If the body's own immune forces are not enough to fight pathogenic microbes, one has to resort to the help of drugs. The most powerful of these are antibiotics, which were originally isolated from molds and are now commonly synthesized in pharmaceutical factories. The use of large amounts of antibiotics can lead to the development of fungal microflora in the intestine, which is a serious complication after infectious diseases. To prevent this development of events, it is necessary to take antifungal drugs (for example, nystatin) along with antibiotics.
Compliance with hygiene rules when preparing and eating food is the most important measure for the prevention of invasions (worms).
Natural foci of infections and invasions. There is infectious diseases that are unique to humans. And there are those that affect both animals living in the wild and humans. These infections can exist in some natural conditions, regardless of whether a person lives there, but if a person gets into such an area, then he almost inevitably gets sick. Such zones are called natural foci of infections, and it is often impossible to extinguish such a focus. For example, plague affects many steppe and desert rodents - gerbils, jerboas, ground squirrels, marmots and others. In the places where they live, natural foci of plague often exist for hundreds and thousands of years. If a person settles nearby, then he can even imperceptibly come into contact with these rodents or get the plague pathogen through a flea that first bit the plague animal and then got on the human body. Natural focal infections also include Siberian (tick-borne) encephalitis, yellow fever, tularemia, anthrax, malaria, hemorrhagic fevers and other especially dangerous infections.
Childhood diseases are a form of adaptation of the body. It should be emphasized that children suffer from infections much more often than adults. This is due to the fact that a large number of infectious diseases cause persistent lifelong immunity, i.e., a repeated encounter with a pathogenic microorganism is no longer capable of leading to a disease, since the body has developed appropriate protective measures. However, it is impossible, and not necessary, to exclude the collision of a child with microbes. The so-called childhood infectious diseases (measles, scarlet fever, chickenpox, mumps, rubella, etc.) are a natural form of adaptation of the child's body to life in a world where the causative agents of these infections are constantly circulating. This is a kind of training for the immune system of the child. Of course, these diseases must be properly treated and, if possible, the development of complications, which, in fact, pose the greatest danger, must be excluded. With age, the likelihood of contracting many infections decreases, but with old age, immunity decreases again, and old people often get sick, becoming infected from children.
social factors. The social factors of the environment that affect the course of physiological processes in the body include, first of all, the way of life of a person, which has developed as a result of the interaction of certain psychological, biological and social conditions of his life. In particular, the level of material wealth affects the physical and functional state of both adults and (especially) children, since it affects the quality and quantity of food consumed, the availability of various hygiene procedures, the degree of comfort of housing and places of recreation, the way and quality of spending free time. , the level of health-improving motor activity, etc. In this regard, the family and the immediate environment play the primary role, and this is especially important for children and adolescents, who sometimes have to be actively involved in production activities, especially in rural areas. Many circumstances of family life constitute the background against which all physiological processes in the body unfold. The regime of the day, nutrition, compliance with hygiene rules, living conditions, place of residence and much more have a direct impact on every person, regardless of his age and occupation.
Phenomena of world culture, in particular world religions, music and other forms of art - all this one way or another affects modern man, shaping his tastes and passions and thereby determining his way of life. Ultimately, the world culture is also one of the factors of the human environment in which he must feel comfortable, if not. then. it means that adaptation has not taken place, and this circumstance in itself can lead to the most unpleasant consequences for health.
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….3
1. Main types of pollutants and their impact on human health ……………………………………………………………………………..4
2. Environmental pollution and the child's body …………………… ..11
3. Features of the reaction of the child's body to the impact of adverse environmental factors ………………………………………………………….15
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………22
References………………………………………………………………23
Introduction
The most indicative and sensitive criterion of the relationship and interaction between man and the environment is the state of human health. Reaction human body the deterioration or improvement of the habitat is manifested in changes in its morphophysiological functions. Human health as an endogenous ecological environment and the health of the biosphere as an exogenous ecological environment are very closely interconnected. Interaction, interdependence, harmony of environmental factors and factors that make up human health provide homeostasis, stabilization of adaptive regulatory systems and health preservation. Dysfunction of any of the components leads to an imbalance in the entire living system. And if we consider health as an indicator of balance with the environment, then any persistent violation of homeostasis - a disease - indicates a violation of stability in the ecosystem, one of the constituent components of which is a person.
Especially clearly the impact of adverse environmental agents affects the functioning of the child's body. He has a particularly high sensitivity due to the presence of critical periods of development, the high vulnerability of the immune system, as well as hereditary predisposition to inadequate reactions to external influences. Therefore, the child's body can be considered as one of the indicators of the state of the environment.
In recent years, unfavorable medical and demographic trends in the state of health of the population have been observed in Russia. Of particular concern is the decrease in the total number of children, the growth in infant and child mortality, and the steady increase in morbidity.
Unfavorable changes in the state of health occur against the backdrop of socio-economic instability and the ongoing deterioration of the environmental situation. Back in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, at the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Russia was named in the group of the most environmentally unfavorable countries on the planet.
The environment is one of the main factors affecting the health and lifestyle of children. One of the indicators of the health of the younger generation is their anatomical and physiological characteristics. Many indicators of growth and its age-related changes are well studied. However, the question of the response of anthropometric indicators to the impact of various factors of environmental pollution remains open, especially during critical periods of growth and development of children. Due to age characteristics, the child's body is most sensitive to changes in the environment. It has not yet developed stable adaptive responses to the impact of various environmental factors, including anthropogenic ones.
1. Main types of pollutants and their impact
on human health
In the middle of the 20th century, the problems associated with chemical pollution of the biosphere sharply worsened, often leading to acute toxic-ecological situations. This caused an expansion of research related to determining the scale and rate of environmental pollution, the search for the most effective techniques protection of the atmosphere, natural waters, soil cover, study of the impact of harmful pollutants on human health and the possibilities of preventing their negative impact.
Pollution is understood as the entry into the biosphere of any solid, liquid and gaseous substances or types of energy (heat, sound, radioactivity, etc.) in quantities that have a harmful effect on humans, animals and plants, both directly and indirectly.
Chemical pollution and human health. Substances polluting the natural environment are very diverse. Depending on their nature, concentration, time of action on the human body, they can cause various adverse effects. Short-term exposure to small concentrations of such substances can cause dizziness, nausea, sore throat, cough. The ingestion of large concentrations of toxic substances into the human body can lead to loss of consciousness, acute poisoning and even death. An example of such an action can be smog formed in large cities in calm weather, or accidental releases of toxic substances into the atmosphere by industrial enterprises.
The body's response to pollution depends on individual features: age, gender, health status. As a rule, children, the elderly and sick people are more vulnerable.
With a systematic or periodic intake of relatively small amounts of toxic substances into the body, chronic poisoning occurs. Signs of chronic poisoning are a violation of normal behavior, habits, as well as neuropsychic deviations: rapid fatigue or a feeling of constant fatigue, drowsiness or, conversely, insomnia, apathy, weakening of attention, absent-mindedness, forgetfulness, severe mood swings.
In chronic poisoning, the same substances in different people can cause various damage to the kidneys, hematopoietic organs, nervous system, liver. Similar signs are also observed in radioactive contamination of the environment.
Thus, in areas that have been exposed to radioactive contamination as a result of Chernobyl disaster, the incidence among the population, especially children, has increased many times over.
Biologically highly active chemical compounds can cause a long-term effect on human health: chronic inflammatory diseases of various organs, changes in the nervous system, effects on the intrauterine development of the fetus, leading to various abnormalities in newborns.
Doctors have established a direct link between the increase in the number of people suffering from allergies, bronchial asthma, cancer, and the deterioration of the environmental situation in the region.
It has been reliably established that such production wastes as chromium, nickel, beryllium, asbestos, and many pesticides are carcinogens, that is, they cause cancer. Back in the last century, cancer in children was almost unknown, but now it is becoming more and more common. As a result of pollution, new, previously unknown diseases appear. Their reasons can be very difficult to establish.
Biological pollution and health. In addition to chemical pollutants, biological pollutants are also found in the natural environment, causing various diseases in humans. These are pathogens, viruses, helminths, protozoa. They can be in the atmosphere, water, soil, in the body of other living organisms, including in the person himself. Often the source of infection is the soil, which is constantly inhabited by pathogens of tetanus, botulism, gas gangrene, and some fungal diseases. They can enter the human body if the skin is damaged, with unwashed food, or if the rules of hygiene are violated.
Pathogenic microorganisms can penetrate the groundwater and cause human infectious diseases. Therefore, water from artesian wells, wells, springs must be boiled before drinking. Especially polluted are open water sources: rivers, lakes, ponds. Numerous cases are known when contaminated water sources caused epidemics of cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery. With an airborne infection, infection occurs through the respiratory tract when air containing pathogens is inhaled. Such diseases include influenza, whooping cough, mumps, diphtheria, measles and others. The causative agents of these diseases get into the air when coughing, sneezing, and even when sick people talk.
A special group is made up of infectious diseases transmitted by close contact with the patient or by using his things, for example, a towel, handkerchief, personal hygiene items and others that were used by the patient. These include venereal diseases (AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea), trachoma, anthrax, scab. A person, invading nature, often violates the natural conditions for the existence of pathogenic organisms and becomes himself a victim of natural focal diseases.
Food contamination and health. Each of us knows that food is necessary for the normal functioning of the body. Throughout life, the human body continuously undergoes a metabolism and energy exchange. The source of building materials and energy necessary for the body are nutrients that come from the external environment, mainly with food. If food does not enter the body, a person feels hungry. But hunger, unfortunately, will not tell you what nutrients and in what quantity a person needs. We often eat what is tasty, what can be prepared quickly, and do not really think about the usefulness and good quality of the products used. Doctors say that a full-fledged balanced diet is an important condition for maintaining the health and high performance of adults, and for children also necessary condition growth and development.
Each of us had to buy large, beautiful vegetables and fruits in stores, but, unfortunately, in most cases, after tasting them, we found out that they were watery and did not meet our taste requirements. This situation occurs if crops are grown with the use of large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Such agricultural products can have not only poor taste, but also be hazardous to health. Nowadays, agricultural crops almost completely receive mineral nitrogen from chemical fertilizers, since some organic fertilizers are not enough for soils depleted in nitrogen. However, unlike organic fertilizers, in chemical fertilizers there is no free release of nutrients in natural conditions. This means that there is no “harmonious” nutrition of agricultural crops that satisfies the requirements of their growth. As a result, there is an excess nitrogen nutrition of plants and, as a result, the accumulation of nitrates in it.
An excess of nitrogen fertilizers leads to a decrease in the quality of plant products, a deterioration in their taste properties, a decrease in plant resistance to diseases and pests, which, in turn, forces the farmer to increase the use of pesticides. They also accumulate in plants. The increased content of nitrates leads to the formation of nitrites, which are harmful to human health. The use of such products can cause serious poisoning and even death in a person.
The negative effect of fertilizers and pesticides is especially pronounced when growing vegetables in closed ground. This is because in greenhouses, harmful substances cannot evaporate and be carried away by air currents without hindrance. After evaporation, they settle on plants.
Plants are able to accumulate in themselves almost all harmful substances. That is why agricultural products grown near industrial enterprises and major highways are especially dangerous.
Landscape ecology and health. A person always strives to the forest, to the mountains, to the seashore, river or lake. Here he feels a surge of strength, vivacity. The craving for natural landscapes is especially strong among the inhabitants of the city. Even in the Middle Ages, it was noticed that the life expectancy of city dwellers is less than that of rural dwellers. Lack of greenery, narrow streets, small courtyards, wells, where he practically did not penetrate sunlight created unfavorable conditions for human life. With the development of industrial production in the city and its environs, a huge amount of waste polluting the environment has appeared.
A variety of factors associated with the growth of cities, in one way or another, affect the formation of a person, his health. This makes scientists increasingly seriously study the impact of the environment on urban residents. It turns out that the conditions in which a person lives, what the height of the ceilings in his apartment and how sound-permeable its walls are, how a person gets to his place of work, whom he treats on a daily basis, how people around him treat each other, depends on the mood of a person, his ability to work , activity - his whole life.
In cities, a person comes up with thousands of tricks for the convenience of his life - hot water, telephone, various modes of transport, roads, services and entertainment. However, in large cities, the shortcomings of life are especially pronounced - housing and transport problems, an increase in the level of morbidity. To a certain extent, this is due to the simultaneous impact on the body of two, three or more harmful factors, each of which has an insignificant effect, but in the aggregate leads to serious troubles for people.
So, for example, saturation of the environment and production with high-speed and high-speed machines increases stress, requires additional efforts from a person, which leads to overwork. It is well known that an overworked person suffers more from the effects of air pollution, infections.
Polluted air in the city, poisoning the blood with carbon monoxide, causes the same harm to a non-smoker as a smoker smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. A serious negative factor in modern cities is the so-called noise pollution. Given the ability of green spaces to favorably influence the state of the environment, they must be as close as possible to the place of life, work, study and recreation of people.
It is very important that the city be a biogeocenosis, if not absolutely favorable, but at least not harmful to people's health. Let there be a zone of life. To do this, it is necessary to solve a lot of urban problems. All enterprises that are unfavorable in sanitary terms must be withdrawn from the cities. Green spaces are an integral part of a set of measures to protect and transform the environment. They not only create favorable microclimatic and sanitary-hygienic conditions, but also increase artistic expressiveness architectural ensembles.
The urban landscape should not be a monotonous stone desert. In the architecture of the city, one should strive for a harmonious combination of social (buildings, roads, transport, communications) and biological aspects (green areas, parks, squares).
The modern city should be considered as an ecosystem in which the most favorable conditions for human life are created. Consequently, these are not only comfortable dwellings, transport, and a diverse service sector. This is a habitat favorable for life and health; clean air and green urban landscape.
It is no coincidence that ecologists believe that in a modern city a person should not be divorced from nature, but, as it were, dissolved in it. Therefore, the total area of green spaces in cities should occupy more than half of its territory.
Increasing rates of change in the environment lead to disruption of the relationship between it and man, reducing the adaptive capacity of the body. The habitat may contain such substances that the organism has not encountered in the course of evolution and therefore does not have the appropriate analyzer systems that signal their presence. The World Health Organization in 1968 defined the health of the population as the main criterion for the state of the natural environment. It was found that pollution increases the incidence of the population by an average of 20%. The children's body reacts especially sharply to environmental troubles. The number of chronic diseases of childhood (allergic, bronchial-pulmonary, cardiovascular, diseases of the kidneys, liver, blood, etc.) is increasing. A high level of pollution leads to a lack of oxygen supply to the body, especially for children, which affects the normal activity of all its systems, especially the nervous one.
Thus, various types of pollution affect all the most important systems of the human body: the central and peripheral nervous systems, hematopoiesis, internal secretion, as well as reproductive function, contributes to the occurrence of malignant tumors, disruption of the hereditary apparatus. At present, the effect of pollutants on the body of an adult is well studied. But the child's developing organism is much more sensitive to the effects of pollution. Consider further how the influence of adverse environmental factors on the child's body.
2. Environmental pollution and the child's body
Modern anthropogenic factors, representing a huge variety of harmful effects on the environment, do not have a direction (selectivity) of their action and, accordingly, have an adverse effect on the person himself. characteristic feature The development and strengthening of the influence of these factors is that a person, by transforming his living environment, affects both the biology of the species living simultaneously with him, and his own biology, and, above all, his health.
The organism as a system is in relation to the environment in three guises: relative independence, rigid determination of its functional state by the ecological environment, manifestation of varying degrees of resistance to negative environmental factors in different periods ontogeny.
Based on the ecological principles of the analysis of the unity of the organism and the environment, we adhere to the point of view that the organism and the features of its ontogenesis are not only the result of the implementation of the genetic program, but also the result of the interaction of gametes, zygote, embryo, fetus and organism with the environment.
In conditions of environmental degradation, natural selection at the level of gametes serves as a protective factor. However, at present, due to the accumulation of harmful anthropogenic substances in various components of the biosphere, the risk of an increase in the frequency of deviations from normal development is increasing. There is an increasing number of facts convincing that "pure" heredity does not exist even in the zygote - at the initial level of development of the organism. So, when exposed to the early stages of spermatogenesis, methyl methanesulfonate and ethyl methanesulfonate in equimolar doses induced unscheduled DNA synthesis. Thus, even gametogenesis can be associated with the risk of exposure to negative factors.
These circumstances, in the context of the current scale and trends of environmental pollution, increase the overall risk of deviations in the development of the organism from the norm. Negative environmental factors pose a danger throughout fetal development, but even in the critical phases of embryogenesis (at 3–8 weeks), the developing organism is more sensitive to teratogenic factors. In recent decades, a large amount of scientific data has been accumulated on the assessment of the physical development of children in connection with the influence of various environmental factors. This is due to the fact that the study of physical development can contribute to the study of the general patterns of interaction between a developing organism and the environment. However, in the ontogenetic aspect, these issues have not yet received a sufficiently wide study.
The environment has a modifying effect on the immunobiological reactivity of the child's body. Many environmental pollutants are immunosuppressants. In addition, dyes, preservatives, various additives used in the food industry, as well as residual amounts of pesticides and fertilizers in vegetation play a significant role in the violation of immunity. Although many issues of the immunological reactivity of the human body are still debatable, along with the clarification of the causes of immunological changes, the role of environmental pollution in changing the immune status of the body is increasingly recognized. The most common causes of environmental pathology of chemical genesis are compounds of heavy metals. Lead is especially toxic to children. Elevated levels of lead in the blood reflect an increased burden on the body. The critical concentration of lead in the blood for adults is 40 mcg/100 ml. For children, this threshold is much lower and amounts to 12 mcg/100 ml in the blood and 8 mcg in the hair. High concentrations of lead, inhibiting the processes of respiration, phosphorylation and active transport, cause functional and morphological changes in mitochondria. With lead toxicosis, the hematopoietic organs, the nervous system and the kidneys are primarily affected.
The body of newborns is most sensitive to the neurotoxic effect of cadmium. This, apparently, is due to the increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier in newborns for this element. Cadmium has a pronounced effect on the exchange of such elements as aluminum, copper, iron and tin. Copper deficiency is manifested by delayed psychomotor development, muscle hypotension, impaired hematopoiesis, and changes in bone tissue.
Of the other heavy metals, mercury and all its derivatives have a particularly toxic effect. The study of the health status of children living in settlements with emissions of mercury production showed that the level of prevalence of all diseases in them was 1781.4 per 100 children. The most common are hereditary, degenerative and other diseases of the central nervous system.
According to I.V. Wisely, in cities with developed non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy among children, there is a significant increase in the number of perinatal diseases, congenital anomalies, diseases of the respiratory system, digestion, nervous system and sensory organs. O.L. Kapura, L.N. Alberton, V.I. Krivoruchko and O. Anderson, J. Nielsen indicate that in areas with environmental pollution by non-ferrous metals, 47% of children have iron deficiency anemia, and 37% have latent iron deficiency.
A serious threat to the health of children is the use of pesticides in agriculture. Children are the most vulnerable group in contact with pesticides: 60% of poisonings occurred in preschool children. L.V. Vasilos (1991) and A. Mairapetion et al. have studied morbidity rates in settlements with a high level of chemicalization of agriculture. The authors established lower indicators of the physical development of children, the level of general morbidity was 2.5 times higher than the control level, allergic and neurological pathologies, metabolic and upper respiratory tract diseases were recorded 2 times or more. According to other authors (V.G. Nikolaev, V.V. Grebennikova), children living in areas with a high content of nitrates in drinking water are more likely to have acute respiratory infections (3.8 times), pneumonia and influenza (3. 5 times), infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (6 times). 40% of children from these regions had T lymphopenia and almost 44.4% had B lymphopenia. A number of authors point to the possibility of damage to the cardiovascular system in children under the influence of pesticides of various classes, as well as an increase in the number of children with rheumatism, pneumonia, especially in the first year of life; mismatch of the functions of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
Thus, the body of children can be very sensitive to the influence of many environmental factors, and especially environmental pollution by industrial and agricultural waste and vehicles. Anthropogenic pollution of the environment is a particular danger to the health of children due to the physiological characteristics of the child's body. This can be expressed in a delay in the development of not only the immune, but also the interferon systems, the immaturity of the antioxidant system, the high permeability of the blood-brain barrier, and the insufficiency of local immunity. Pollution can even have a negative impact on reproductive function and cause embryotoxic and mutagenic effects.
3. Features of the reaction of the child's body to the impact
adverse environmental factors
Studies by scientists of various specialties indicate a low resistance of a young organism to the effects of harmful environmental factors. The reactions of the child's body to the action of anthropogenic factors differ significantly from the reactions of adults. These differences are due to many factors. First, the existence of critical periods of development, when the sensitivity of the child's body to pathogenic external influences changes in the direction of its increase. Secondly, the increased sensitivity of the neuroendocrine system to the effects of harmful agents throughout the entire period of growth. The adverse effects of the influence of xenobiotics on the reproductive system, the formation of which also occurs over a long period, are also of significant importance. Thirdly, the special vulnerability of the immune system of a growing organism due to its non-linear gradual development, characterized by critical periods when depressive states are noted, the activation of the corresponding genes, and the restructuring of organs and immunity systems is carried out. Fourthly, the phenomenon of imprinting, when toxic effects on parents and on a child induce metabolic changes that are not characteristic of a given age period. Fifth, the phenomenon of hermesis (stimulation of physiological functions by small doses of xenobiotics). An increased resistance of the body to the action of xenobiotics in the postnatal period is known, if in very small doses they had an effect at the stage of embryonic development, which is to some extent associated with enzymatic imprinting. Sixth, a hereditary predisposition to inadequate reactions of the body to external influences. Seventh, ethnic differences in reactions to the action of chemical and other environmental agents, which do not depend on age, but must be taken into account in children. It has been established that variations in individual sensitivity to xenobiotics are primarily due to ethnicity. Eighth, the mutagenic influence of the external environment. Mutations of the germ cells of the parents are the cause of the occurrence of hereditary and, to a certain extent, oncological diseases in children, while often similar patients are not detected vertically in the child's pedigree.
There are numerous reports of increased morbidity in children living in ecologically unfavorable areas, diseases of the respiratory system, hematopoiesis, digestion, nervous system and sensory organs, ENT organs, endocrine system, skin and subcutaneous tissue, eating disorders, disorders of various aspects of metabolism, etc. d. In close connection with environmental pollution is the frequency of prematurity, the frequency of malformations, the frequency of chromosomal diseases, the frequency of mental retardation and behavioral abnormalities in children, the frequency and types of oncological pathology in children, the number of disabled children and disabled since childhood. Ecopathogenic impacts led to the emergence of new diseases, among which should be named chemical asthma, general fatigue syndrome, dioxin syndrome (chloracne, skin pigmentation, immunodeficiency), the "strange" Minamata disease (spastic paralysis, mental retardation due to damage to the central nervous system by methylmercury accumulated in marine food products), Yusho disease (skin damage by polychlorinated biphenyls that came with contaminated edible vegetable oil), itai-itai disease, general immune depression - "chemical AIDS", "unhealthy" building syndrome and others.
In connection with the increasing deterioration of environmental conditions, a further deterioration in the health of today's children should be expected in the coming years. Many authors associate the high incidence of children in cities with the presence of significant changes in their immune status. It is known that certain classes of harmful substances have a selective effect on the immune system. Ecological situation modern city, increasing the antigenic load on the child's body, modifies its immunological reactivity, which can lead to the appearance of various forms of immunological deficiency in populations. One of the leading laboratory signs of immunological insufficiency is the low tension of the post-vaccination population, and primarily children living in environmental pollution. In an animal experiment, it has been proven that a decrease in the immunological activity of the DTP vaccine can be a direct consequence of environmental pollution with heavy metals.
Environmental conditions also have a significant impact on the indicators of the physical development of children. Dynamic monitoring of changes in indicators of physical development makes it possible to assess the reaction of the child's body to changes in hygienic, social living conditions, lifestyle features, etc.
The Ural industrial region of Russia is a leader in gross emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, mainly carbon monoxide, copper oxide, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, phenols, hydrocarbons, lead, chlorine, formaldehyde, benzopyrene, xylene. The region ranks second in the country in terms of gross emissions of other toxic substances. The enterprises of the Sverdlovsk /30%/, Chelyabinsk /27%/ regions make the largest contribution to the total emissions. So in the cities Chelyabinsk region: Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Zlatoust more than 80% of emissions are caused by ferrous metallurgy enterprises. Most of the territory lacks water resources. In 1992, the metallurgical complexes of the Ural region accounted for 28% of all emissions of harmful substances polluting the atmosphere, although in general, for metallurgy enterprises, compared with 1992, the share of their emissions decreased by 488 thousand tons, i.e. by 11.5%. Emissions of solid substances decreased by 108 thousand tons, i.e. by 9.7%, carbon monoxide by 11.8%, sulfur dioxide by 8%. Accumulators of various wastes of metallurgical complexes cause great damage to groundwater. Thus, the area of pollution of the underground aquifer by the Magnitogorsk plant exceeds 150 square kilometers. km.; Volgograd plant "Red October" - 20 sq. km. The pollutants of the water basin are: iron, sulfates, phenols, oil products - exceeding the MPC by 5-10 times. Leading in the total pollution of the Chelyabinsk region are substances of the 1st and 2nd toxicity class. So in Chelyabinsk, the share of BP is 91.1%, in Magnitogorsk - BP 82.0%, lead - 8.0%; in Zlatoust: phenol - 54.0%, sulfur dioxide - 17.8%, multicomponent dust - 15.2; in Upper Ufaley: mercury - 19.7%, sulfur and nitrogen dioxide - 12.15% each; in Karabash: lead - 88.1%. One of the main environmental pollutants of the city of Magnitogorsk, according to the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision, is a metallurgical plant, emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere of which make up 96% of the total emissions of all enterprises in the city. Technological emissions per day, based on the production of 1 million tons of steel per year, are: dust - 128.1 tons per day, sulfur dioxide - 151.0 tons per day, CO - 253.0 tons per day. The amount of nitrogen oxides emitted from the furnace per ton of steel is 1.0-2.0 kg. The content of nitrogen oxides in gas-fired open-hearth furnaces is 600 - 900 mg./m.3 in terms of NO2, which significantly exceeds the MPC and specific emissions of steel-smelting furnaces / 1.17 kg. / t. / and converters / 0.023 kg / t. / .
In the city of Magnitogorsk, since 1978, a comprehensive study of the problem has been carried out: "The influence of environmental factors on the health of the population." At the same time, objects of the natural environment (air, soil, injection water) are studied for the content of chemical toxic compounds. The priority environmental pollutants of the city are in the air: dust containing iron /up to 10 MAC/, silicon /more than 10 MAC/, manganese /2 MAC/, copper /1.5 MAC/, nickel /2 MAC/, lead /7 MAC/, chromium /3.3 MAC/, silicon /from 10 to 20 MAC/, benzene /1.5 MAC/, toluene /15 MAC/, benzapyrene /10 MAC/, sulfur dioxide /6 MAC/, nitrogen dioxide and oxide /according to 4 MPC/; in soil: iron /high concentrations -120 mg/kg/, nickel /up to 40 MAC/, arsenic /up to 155 MAC/, nitrates /up to 24 MAC/, benzapyrene /up to 200 MAC/; in drinking water: lead /2.5 MAC/, zinc /1.5 MAC/, high concentrations of silicon /up to 46.7 mg/l/ and antimony /190.7 mg/l/. Most of these chemical compounds belong to the first and second classes of toxicity, i.e. have a general toxic effect, carcinogenic and co-carcinogenic effects, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, embryotoxicity, can cause a wide range of allergic reactions, negatively affect the hormonal status, immunity and central nervous system.
Thus, in the areas of Magnitogorsk, a high technogenic load has been observed for several decades both on the environment and on the population as a whole. It is known that children are the most sensitive to the effects of harmful factors. Therefore, the health status of children is of particular interest. This interest is also justified by the characteristic high increase in the incidence of children. For children from 0 to 14 years old, living in the left-bank region, the lowest health index was revealed (47.79%). A slightly higher index is observed in children of this age in the Pravoberezhny district (48.67%), and the highest values were obtained for the Ordzhonikidzevsky district (70.03%)
The index indicators also allow assessing the damage to the main systems of the children's body. Thus, for the respiratory system, the greatest incidence is noted in the Levoberezhny district (47.6%), and the smallest - in the Ordzhonikidzevsky district (62.2%). The damage to the nervous system for children from 0 to 10 years is higher in the Levoberezhny district (47.6%), and the lowest - in Ordzhonikidzevsky (62.2%).
Neoplasms are more often detected in children of the Left-Bank and Right-Bank regions (health indices for this pathology are 47.6% and 48.2%, respectively). With regard to the digestive system and congenital developmental anomalies, the same pattern is observed: the Ordzhonikidzevsky district has the highest health index and is 66.8%.
As a result of these studies, it was revealed that the highest indicators of health indices are typical for children aged 0 to 14 years old living in the Ordzhonikidzevsky district.
The study also established groups of children with the lowest health index - these are children in the age group from 0 to 2 years and from 3 to 7 years. In these age groups, a high risk of developing endocrine pathology, congenital anomalies, and morbidity of the nervous system was recorded.
In children from 7 to 14 years of age, high risk indicators are observed in relation to the digestive system, respiratory and endocrine. These nosologies have a certain structural configuration depending on the region where the children live.
Based on the foregoing, the greatest attention of both physicians, valeologists and teachers should be paid to children aged 3 to 7 years and especially those living in the Left Bank and Right Bank districts of the city in relation to the possible pathology of the nervous and respiratory systems.
The educational process with this age group of children must be carried out strictly observing all valeological requirements, without causing overwork of the central nervous system, identify risk groups and carry out the necessary corrective work with them.
An analysis of the dynamics of the physical development of children in Russia shows that in large cities the process of acceleration, which peaked in the mid-1970s, has basically ended. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a slowdown in the growth and development of the younger generation. V.N. Kardashenko (1993) explains these phenomena by the social and economic difficulties of the last decade (a decrease in the protein component in nutrition, the imbalance and irregularity of the latter, a decrease in motor activity, changes in the system of upbringing and education, children's recreation, family environment). Deceleration is associated with an increase in intragroup differences, namely, an increase in the proportion of people who enter puberty relatively late, a decrease in the number of overweight people, and, conversely, an increase in the number of people with its deficiency and an increase in cases of general delay in physical development. It has been established that the acceleration or deceleration of the rate of development leads to an increase in the heterochrony of the formation of individual systems and functions and a decrease in the physiological capabilities of the organism.
In this way, physical development of children and adolescents is one of the most important indicators of the health of the younger generation and can be used as one of the most obvious and highly reliable criteria for assessing the social, economic and environmental situation in the region.
Conclusion
Thus, there is no doubt that the state of health, morphological indicators and functional capabilities of children largely depend on living conditions, namely, on the unfavorable state of the environment.
The child's body develops under the influence of interacting biological, socio-economic and climatic factors. At different age stages, these effects are manifested differently. There is a complex continuous interaction, in which in some cases the hereditary basis prevails, and in others - the influence of the environment.
Unfavorable environmental factors actively affect a growing organism, affecting not only some of its structural features, such as height and weight, but also puberty and reactivity.
Diseases and pathological conditions in childhood and adolescence, which were rare earlier, have become more frequent. Among schoolchildren, there is no tendency to reduce chronic tonsillitis, myopia and hyperopia, functional disorders of the central nervous system (CNS), dental caries, and allergic diseases. A number of chronic diseases are formed even at preschool age - in older groups kindergarten and upon admission to the 1st grade.
Long-term exposure to negative environmental factors polluted with man-made waste has a negative impact on the morphofunctional development of children. In adverse environmental conditions, changes occur in their psychophysiological development.
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The external environment is considered as a combination of two relatively independent subsystems:
1) macro environment;
2) the immediate environment of the enterprise.
Macro-environment factors or uncontrollable factors are fatcores affecting the organization's activities that cannot be controlled by the organization and its services, incl. marketing.
Conducting a study of demographic factors of the macro environment has great importance to determine the market potential of a tourist enterprise. Marketing should consider issues related to the size of the population, its location in individual countries and regions, by age categories, highlighting the working population, students and retirees. Demographic changes affect families as well. Each category of the population, grouped according to one or another demographic feature, needs its own tourism product. Each category has its own budget, which must also be taken into account by marketing specialists when preparing a tourist offer. Urbanization, that is, an increase in the proportion of the urban population, is also related to the category of demographic factors. It is one of the main factors in the development of mass types of tourism, since the degree of participation of the population in tourist trips is directly proportional to the degree of urbanization. Within one country, the level of tourist activity in cities is significantly higher than in rural areas. There is another ratio, more city, the greater the number of its population goes on tourist trips. This can be explained by the fact that the main factor in the development of mass types of tourism at the end of the 20th century. there was a need for rest, generated by physical overload and nervous tension, which are the greater, the larger the city.
Having received data on the directions of development of demographic processes, it is necessary to consider their likely impact on the activities of a travel company, determine the directions of the main actions and predict the consequences of future work.
Economic factors are no less significant than demographic ones. The solvency of the population is influenced by many factors, among which one can indicate the degree of economic development of the country itself, the ratio of the nominal and real wages of the population, the inflation rate, and the unemployment rate. It is important to have information about the structure of income distribution between different segments of the population. The inequality of such a distribution is a natural phenomenon. As a result, when preferring to serve a specific market segment, a travel company should take as a basis the financial situation of its potential customers. In addition, it is extremely important to study the cost structure of consumers. This allows you to roughly determine what part of the costs of each group of the population falls on the consumption of tourism services. For example, in the world there is a stable trend of growth in the part of tourist services in the overall structure of consumption.
In addition, the activity of a tourist enterprise is influenced by natural factors, especially since the problems of rational consumption of natural resources and environmental protection are included in the category of universal ones. In addition, natural factors (flora and fauna, climate, topography) are the main reason that induces customers to make a trip and visit a particular region or country.
The marketing activity of a tourist enterprise is influenced by socio-cultural factors. The foundations and norms adopted in society, the totality of social rules, spiritual values, the relationship of people with the surrounding nature, among themselves and the attitude towards themselves have the maximum power of influence. The study of socio-cultural factors is very important, since they affect both the elements of the macro environment and the internal environment of the organization, in particular, the attitude of staff to work.
The study of the achievements of scientific and technological progress allows you to quickly identify opportunities for developing fundamentally new types of services, for improving the quality of customer service, etc. At the same time, it should be taken into account that scientific and technical progress fraught with both great opportunities for the growth of the company, and the threat that new progressive ideas and developments will force obsolete technologies and methods out of the market.
The study of the political and legal factors of the macro environment must be carried out in order to have a clear idea of the actions of state authorities and administration in relation to the development of society and the means by which the state intends to implement its policy. Accounting in the activities of the tourist enterprise of laws and other regulations that determine the legal norms and boundaries of relations, provides the tourist enterprise with the opportunity to find for itself the permissible limits of action and possible methods for protecting its interests.
When analyzing the factors of the macro environment, it is extremely important to take into account two fundamental points. First, all the factors of the macro-environment of marketing are closely interconnected and influence each other. Therefore, their consideration should be carried out not one by one, but systematically. Secondly, the degree of influence of macroenvironment factors on different organizations is not the same and depends on the size of the organization, its location, nature, characteristics of activities, etc. In addition, the tourist enterprise needs to establish for itself which of the external factors have the most significant impact on its work. As a result, it is important to identify those factors that are possible sources of threats to the tourist enterprise. It is also rational to have information about external factors, a change in which can reveal new opportunities in the activities of the enterprise.
The immediate environment consists of those components of the external marketing environment with which the travel enterprise has direct interaction - consumers, competitors, suppliers, contact audiences.
Conducting consumer research provides an opportunity to better understand what services they will use to the maximum extent, how much sales they can hope for, how to increase the number of possible customers.
Competitors are another important part of the immediate external environment. In order to have information about your competitors, it is necessary to constantly monitor the actions of the main competitors of the tourist enterprise. Actually competitors also set those criteria which the enterprise needs to reach or surpass.
There are very few tourism enterprises that have the ability to independently organize a tour, provide customers with all the necessary vehicles, provide accommodation, provide food, etc. For this, as a rule, firms and partner organizations are used to fill in the gaps in integrated services. These include:
1) firms that provide places of residence;
2) transport companies;
3) tour companies and companies offering escort and information support tourists;
4) intermediary tourist enterprises;
5) trade enterprises;
6) catering establishments, etc.
Suppliers are businesses and individuals that supply the travel agency and its competitors with the material resources needed to produce certain goods or services. The actions of suppliers can significantly affect the marketing activities of a tourist enterprise - an increase in the price of suppliers' goods, supplier strikes and other factors.
Marketing intermediaries are organizations that assist a tourism enterprise in promoting, marketing and distributing its services to its clientele. These are resellers, enterprises specializing in the organization of goods distribution, agencies providing marketing services, etc.
Resellers look for consumers and directly sell the product or service of the enterprise. It is more rational for an enterprise to cooperate with an intermediary with a developed sales network than to organize such a network on its own. Preferring one reseller over another is a difficult task because. in a civilized market, as a rule, a reseller is a large organization that sets its own conditions and generally may not let an individual tourist enterprise into large-capacity markets.
Contact audiences have an important influence on the work of tourist enterprises. They include groups of persons, enterprises, institutions, likely or actually influencing the work of the travel agency. Possible influence can manifest itself both in maintaining neutrality in relations with the travel agency, and in the manifestation of a specific attitude towards it.
Contact audiences include:
1) financial environment (banks, financial, insurance companies, investment funds and other financial and credit institutions);
2) mass media (press, radio, television, Internet);
3) the public (consumer unions, social associations, as well as residents who are not any organized mass, for example, residents of a resort area);
4) employees of the company, on whose opinion about the activities of their tourist enterprise their attitude to work depends.
In addition, the positive image of the tourist enterprise in the eyes of its own staff effectively affects other contact audiences. The management of the tourist organization should strive to increase the degree of awareness of employees about the activities of the enterprise, the implementation of actions to stimulate their work, the growth of social guarantees.
The task of the specialists marketing research consists in acquiring information about the moods prevailing in contact audiences, anticipating possible actions in relation to the tourist enterprise, as well as finding means to establish constructive interaction with the public.
The tourist organization in the market does not function in isolation, but under the influence of various forces that are the external environment of marketing. The connections that are formed between the subjects of the marketing environment and the tourist enterprise are different, and by the nature of the influence on them from the side of the enterprise, they can be controlled and uncontrolled. The task of the tourism organization is to minimize the number of uncontrollable factors in the marketing environment and search for opportunities to indirectly influence them.
- The displacement is called the vector connecting the start and end points of the trajectory The vector connecting the beginning and end of the path is called
- Trajectory, path length, displacement vector Vector connecting the initial position
- Calculating the area of a polygon from the coordinates of its vertices The area of a triangle from the coordinates of the vertices formula
- Acceptable Value Range (ODZ), theory, examples, solutions