Friday, 05 November 2010===============================================================
Stress affects vital organs of the body. Seye Adeniyi writes on the health problems which stress, car exhaust and generator fumes can cause, especially on the reproductive system.
It is no longer news that many Nigerians have lost their lives from the use of generators either through an electrical shock or the inhalation of generator fumes, which often contain carbon monoxide.Many environmental health experts, as well as public health specialists, have expressed concern over the level of air pollution in many urban cities and called the attention of government and members of the public to its attendant effects on human health.
Various studies have also shown that the polluted air in towns and cities is one of the contributory factors to the escalating incidence of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems now affecting many people. Researchers have also revealed that the risk of death from heart disease is on the increase, especially in people who regularly breathe air containing a high concentration of fine particles, emitted by vehicles and factories.
These particles, according to expert were said to harden and narrow the blood arteries, thus affecting the normal blood flow to the heart.
A professor of environmental health, MKC Sridhar, said our environment is becoming more polluted on daily basis and it seems the government is not doing much to control this bad phenomenon.
There is also a mounting evidence which suggests that air pollution should be taken serious because of its attendant effects not only on the heart, but on other vital organs of the body. Some researches have even shown that fumes from generators and exhaust from cars could affect not only the heart, but also cause infertility.
The don explained that exposure to airborne “particulate”, which is less than three per cent of the width of a human hair and invisible, could cause damage to human health, especially the reproductive system.
These fine particulates seen as dense clouds as they emerge from exhaust pipes trigger a cellular and biochemical process that often start in the lungs and then proceed from there into the cardiovascular system where they cause maximum damage.
A medical expert, Professor Jeremy Pearson, who is also a member of British Heart Foundation, in one of his reports, also corroborated this assertion. According to him, if car exhaust or fumes from a generator is inhaled over time, it does not only affect the heart, it could also have a devastating effect on the production of spermatozoa.
There is also warning from scientists who wanted people to be aware that infertility in men had been on the increase over the past 40 years. They said there are evidences pointing to environmental causes of infertility and one of such is exposure to car exhaust/fumes.
Dr Cecil Jacobson of Reproductive Genetics Centre, Vienna Virginna, said male infertility is now a thing of concern because many men are now becoming sterile.
“Besides the common causes of infertility, like high intake of coffee, alcohol, cigarette and infections due to sexual intercourse, findings have also shown that vehicle exhaust, when inhaled over a period of time could cause infertility.
Vehicle emissions contain both high levels of lead (Pb) and toxic hydrocarbons or solvent combustion products, therefore, it can affect the production of spermatozoa,” stated Dr Jacobson.
For example, in a medical journal entitled: “Environmental Health Perspectives,” Dr. P. Kristenser and Dr. Einar Eilersten of the National Institute of Occupational Health, Norway, observed that a compound, benzo(a) pyrene, a common constituent of car exhaust can cause a significant reduction in fertility in test animals and fertility was further lower when the animals were exposed to BaP and lead (Pb) simultaneously.
This statement has also been corroborated by Professor Sridhar and other environmental health experts like Dr. Godson Ana of the Faculty of Public Health, University of Ibadan, Oyo State. The experts were of the opinion that fumes that contain carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and even nicotine are very dangerous to health. They said that if such gases were inhaled over a period of time, they could affect spermatogensis.
Therefore, commercial drivers, especially long distance drivers and automobile mechanics are vulnerable because they regularly inhale large quantities of carbon monoxide, benzo chemicals and other harmful gases.
Car exhaust could damage the sperm-producing part of the male testicles called the seminiferous tubules and also reduce ovarian weight by 33 per cent, as well as cause remarkable reduction in ovarian follicles.
Most commercial drivers, especially long distance drivers, can also experience low libido because the ambient temperature of their testes increases when they sit for long hours and in the process of travelling long distance inhale large quanities of these harzardous compounds daily.
These dangerous gases interfere with the process of spermatogenesis and thus make it difficult to produce sperm cell. It should be noted that the testes function well at a low temperature, therefore, anything that would increase the ambient temperature around the testes should be avoided.
It is on record that many marriages have broken down due to the inability of couples to produce or have a child. In fact, in this part of the world, many reasons have been attributed to this anormally and in different parts of the country, today, some people still see infertility beyond biological calculation, medical explanation or colouration.
But reproductive health experts like Dr. Garba H. Mohammed said this belief has no locus standi in medical practises as both sexes could be affected. According to the South-Africa based reproductive health specialist, unknown to many people, stress can also cause depression and this can eventually lead to infertility. Infertility, he further explained, can also cause stress and depression.
The expert also said stress is not a disease, but a condition caused or created by human themselves. “Although some unexpected events or bad occurences of life could create stress, we should not allow ourselves to be weighed down or throw into depression,” he advised.
For Dr Yomi Ikuponiyi, a stress management expert, stress could affect mental alertness and sexual desire and alertness.
“Stress can inhibit sexual desire by making a man to be too weak to have interest in sex, thus causing a condition known as erectile failure. It shuts down sexual desires in men by causing constriction of arteries that supply blood to the penis in men. In fact, a stressful man experiences low libido and if care is not taken, it can hamper the production of spermatozoa thus causing infertility,”he stated.
He also advised women to avoid anything that could give them stress, adding that stress could be “toxic” to the embryo and predispose a pregnant woman both to early labour and miscarriage.
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