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Illness in humans due to acid rain
Name: Kim Michalek
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Is it possible, acid rain could make humans really sick, like it can to
animals?
Replies:
Well, yes and no. If you drank a gallon of it, it might make you sick, but
you could probably be cured by taking an antacid like Rolaids or Tums. In
cities people can be made sick by breathing smog, which is a kind of air
pollution similar to acid rain, but is really more like acid fog. Animals are
more sensitive to acid rain than people are because they must live in it, and
everything they eat must also live in it, and if the species are not adapted
to a high acid environment, they die.
Humans are more adaptable to changes in
the environment than animals, so we can tolerate more severe changes and we
can buffer our exposure to pollution. In fact some people have tried to
combat the effects of acid rain on lakes by dumping tons of antacids - the
same chemicals in Rolaids and Tums - into the lakes. Others believe that
preventing acid rain by controlling pollution at its source (fossil fuel
combustion) would be a better way.
Mortis
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Update: June 2012
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