COVER YOUR NOSE
“Lil effort is better than nil effort”--- ‘Femi Awolesi
I actually do not like it. It is not appealing but rather appalling and obnoxious. The gas fumes that emanate from the exhaust of automobiles, as I perambulate along our roads. I hate it more when I do not have something to at least clog my nose from sniffing in the fumes. These fumes are so dangerous that if you knew their effects on your health, you would not but begin quickly to do what you must do to send it off from the zone of your nose.
This gas is called carbon monoxide, produced through the incomplete combustion of carbon by the operation of internal combustion engines. (Yes, if you didn’t know, now you know that the fuel in our vehicles is composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen). When this carbon monoxide which chemists have logoed CO enters the blood stream upon inhalation, it reduces the delivery of oxygen to the various organs and tissues of the body. The principle here is that, the more it enters, the less the availability of vital oxygen.
I am still able to recall an experience that I had few months ago. It was evening; I was on a bus heading for Ojota, an area in the city of Lagos the most populous state in the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria. As the bus moved on, CO started to fume out exhaustively from the exhaust pipe and soon hovered the bus-sphere. People who knew what and would not allow such to debilitate their health whined with impunity. The driver answered us in an insouciant manner. Our complaint wasn’t in any way a triviality, but his response was sheer frivolity. Was he ignorant of the damning risk of being exposed to such a poisonous gas as CO?
After an increasing noise of protest, he aborted the vehicle. All alighted. Then we stood and watched him remove the metal-pipe that was causing trouble. We hopped in as soon as he rounded off the task. The pipe was inserted in an open space above the passengers. The fumes subsided but the noise from below the car escalated. Well, we could manage noise pollution but would give no room for nose pollution.
CO fumes also throw out from the generators we have in our homes, offices and industries. Not only do the fuel we use burn out this form of carbon but it also contains an iota of lead, pronounced /led/
Lead is a dangerous leader. It leads one to the path of destruction. When it is taken into the body, it accumulates in the blood, bones and soft tissues; it also affects the kidneys, liver, nervous system and blood-forming organs. Exposure to too much of it may lead to brain damage, coma or even death. This is why we must cover our nose even while we are filling our tank with fuel, at home or fuel stations. But with what? A nose mask or even a hanky. If you forgot to make your hanky or nose mask handy, you can muzzle the nose with your lips (I’d suggest you wash and rinse them with soap and clean water as soon as you are done).
Sam Marsden, in the environment section of the Telegraph website, reports that Sheffield University researchers compared three homes for a study, which they said was one of the first of its kind to focus on the risks of indoor pollution. One was a stone-built detached house with an electric cooker in Hathersage, a village about 10 miles west of Sheffield in the Peak District National Park. The other two properties were flats with gas cookers in Sheffield, one in the city centre and the other above a shop next to a busy road.
The scientists took air quality samples from outside and inside the homes over a four-week period. Only very low traces of highly-toxic carbon monoxide were found in the kitchen of the rural house, but levels were much higher in the flats once the gas ovens were turned on.
Professor Vida Sharifi, who led the research mentioned: "We spend 90% of our time indoors and work hard to make our homes warm, secure and comfortable, but we rarely think about the pollution we might be breathing in.
"Energy is just one source of indoor pollution, but it is a significant one. And as we make our homes more airtight to reduce heating costs, we are likely to be exposed to higher levels of indoor pollution, with potential impacts on our health."
She added: "Concerns about air quality tend to focus on what we breathe in outdoors, but as we spend most of our time indoors, we need to understand more about air pollution in our homes.”
CO which I have acronymed “Carcinogenic Oxygen” also gets featured at the fish and bean-cake sellers’ stands, not forgetting to mention the shops of corn-roasters and barbeque (or suya in our local way of calling it) makers. Why is this so? The material that serves as the seat of these foods is either a tripod stand or a metal receptacle containing charcoal. The sellers and roasters of these products see their actions as hard work, I see it as death work. Perhaps, they lack knowledge about the damning effect of the smoke on their own health as well as those of their customers.
Presumably, some have an inkling of it, but don’t just care. If they cannot afford to buy and use a cooking machine that will minimize exposure to CO, can they not begin to use a nose mask and inspire their customers to do same, even without having to open their mouth to educate them as actions, they say, speak louder than words.
The lungs will not stay long if it constantly takes in the wrong air. Those who puff out smoke from a cigar, cigarettes or pipe should not forget that smokers are liable to “kpeme” young. Also liable are the secondhand smokers. When they die, we can predict, cancer is the killer of them all. What a sad-ending for both puffers and the coughers! The inhalation of this bad air pokes, yokes and chokes the lungs from the reception of available fresh air. How about lab air?
I had my industrial (SIWES) training specifically in a food analytical laboratory where I learnt how to analyze different sorts of food samples, from seafood to tea-food, biscuit to milk. In the determination of fat content in a powdered milk, one of the stages involved is called Acid Digestion. There, we add about 10 milliliters of concentrated hydrochloric acid (HCl) into 1 gram of the milk in a conical flask, add drops of water to dissolve it, then we stir and take it to the fume cupboard (this is the lab section where dangerous experiments are carried out) to heat until requisite changes are observed. The latter part of this experiment involves the addition of appropriate organic solvents, followed by vigorous shaking and decantation including heating in a water bath.
I did not like putting myself through the first part, because, besides the burns that could result on my skin as a result of its corrosive nature, HCl also gives a choking smell. Other symptoms from inhaling it include chest tightness, coughing, coughing up blood, dizziness, low blood pressure, rapid pulse, shortness of breath and weakness.
In the early days of my arrival in the lab, I did not see my supervisors use a nosemask to cover their nose while performing such a dangerous experiment. If for once, they did, then they were not consistent, though the company had nose masks.
Though I imitated their acts and chest pain was not far from me but later, when I began to use a nosemask their eyes said, _What’s the need? You just pour it quickly, lazy boy!_
I did blend in to their fashion at some point, but along the line I settled for what was right for me.
In the lab, I loved using the mask as well as gloves as it even made me look really more like a scientist. And the truth is, _*if you do not act like it, you cannot be like it*_.
Have I mentioned dust? I think I have not. We must endeavour to steer clear an environment where gust of dust particles celebrates birthdays. Dust, according to the <*"Glossary of Atmospheric Chemistry Terms"*>, are small, dry, solid particles projected into the air by natural forces, such as wind, volcanic eruption, and by mechanical or man-made processes such as crushing, grinding, milling, drilling, demolition, shovelling, conveying, screening, bagging, and sweeping. Dust particles are usually in the size range from about 1 to 100 µm in diameter, and they settle slowly under the influence of gravity."
Dusts that are generated by work processes include but is not limited to mineral dusts, such as coal and cement dusts; metallic dusts, such as lead, cadmium, nickel, and beryllium dusts; other chemical dusts, like bulk chemicals and pesticides; organic and vegetable dusts, such as flour, wood, cotton and tea dusts, pollens; biohazards, such as viable particles, moulds and spores.
My dear reader, fear a little because our nose naturally serves as a pre-filter, protecting the lungs against airborne pollutants whose size range is between 5 to 10 micrometers or larger; thus, they are effectively removed by the nose. Because dust particles more minute than the size mentioned have the potentiality of entering the nose, <*you must guard yourself from airborne dust*> so that its related diseases- cancer, asthma, allergic alveolitis, irritation, and pneumonoconiose
_*When you are on the verge of sneezing or coughing (cover your mouth), then observe your environment, it might just be that “dustosphere” or some irritant is just nearby.*_ Then use your hanky or preferably, a nose mask. Lil effort is better than nil effort.
A simple way to use a nose mask is to first of all wash your hands, then open the mask, put it on, pull top band over the head and bottom band below the ears, adjust nose clip to fit, and finally, inhale and exhale.
World Health Organisation has announced that 3 million people die each year because of air pollution. In his book, The Outliers, Malcom Gladwell says that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice makes you a world class expert in any field and many of our cities have had enough practice in the field of getting unbreathable air.
The unabating intake of bad air results in a lower quality of life for the affected, whether at home, or at work. You do not want to fall ill let alone to die young, but isn’t it time you did what you have to do in order to stay hale and hearty? Then, cover your nose, today! Remember, Lil effort is better than nil effort.
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