With 280 million vehicles actively in use in the United States in 2020 (Statistica.com) and with about 17 million new vehicles being sold each year, what is the effect on our environment as well as on each of us, by the vaporized tire rubber that is being put into the atmosphere?
For every vehicle on the road there are at least four tires, if not more, that are being worn down by the friction between the tire and the often rough roadways. All of that rubber (or is it really a form of plastic with a bit of natural rubber?) is being vaporized and we are breathing it in. Every day, no matter where we are. Additionally, it is coating our land, food sources, homes, clothes and everywhere, which then can introduce the rubber into our bodies.
I’ve never read a mainstream article nor seen a news story on this topic.
Years ago when I was a forensic police detective, I attended many, many autopsies. Even when a person was not a smoker (you never want to see what the lungs look like in a life long smoker) the person’s lungs were often spotted or coated in black. I now wonder if some of that was from years of breathing in vaporized rubber?
Just something to think about…
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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Interesting about the autopsies. I have never considered where the wear particles from tires would ultimately end up. There is a lot of it laying on the surface in the turns at any Nascar race.I always attributed the dark grime on urban sidewalks to diesel particulate because it was most apparent in areas where many city buses would stop and start. I suppose some of it could have been tire particulate. In either case, no doubt that a portion is aereated. A good friend, former UVA football player and life long health fanatic, died at 60 from lung cancer. We attributed the cause to daily jogging in a central city setting.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if any of the autopsies might have been of old photographers and darkroom pros who constantly breathed fixer fumes, toners, and had their hands in chemicals for hours at the time.
Now you have me thinking about my own lungs. I spent many, many years and thousands of hours in a darkroom mixing chemicals, developing, printing, etc. I did contract chemical pneumonia one time when I accidentally sniffed some very highly concentrated ammonia. It was a component of something but I don’t now remember. I do remember just getting a brief whiff of it and then everything went south. Not fun. That may come back to haunt me one day. Thanks for your comment.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElSGR2oRAY0 dust is a significant contributor to water pollution
ReplyDeleteI have a in-ground pool in my own suburban community. Each week I notice how airborne debris settles into the bottom of the pool, so there are definitely particles in our air. I don't know the effects on the human body, but I worry that this is not good.
ReplyDeleteChris, I hadn’t thought about debris from rubber vaporization landing in swimming pools. Thanks for your comment.
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