Question

SPM causes
A. Respiratory diseases
B. Bone deformities
C. Skin diseases
D. All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: SPM is an abbreviation. It stands for the ‘Suspended Particulate Matter’. SPM is an air pollutant that includes smoke, dust, fumes and mist. It may cause diseases such as asthma, bronchitis.

Complete answer:
Let’s understand pollution first. Any undesirable change that takes place in the environment is called pollution. The undesirable change caused due to addition of certain harmful substances to the environment. These harmful substances are called pollutants. Pollution may be categorised into air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, nuclear pollution.
Now let’s know what is what is SPM and their effect on human health:
SPM or suspended particulate matter are microscopic small solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. It consists of both organic and inorganic particles. These particles are dust, pollen, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. These particles vary in size, their origin and composition. On the basis of their size, particulate matter is categorised into two main groups:
Inhalable coarse particles: The size of the particles range from 2.5 micrometres to 10 micrometres in diameter. These particles near the industries and roadside.
Fine particles: The particles size is up to 2.5 micrometre such as smoke and haze. Fine particles released from forest fires, gases emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles react in the air.
Fine particles can be easily inhaled during breathing. They reach to the lungs through the respiratory tract. These fine particles attack the bronchi that may cause chronic respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, etc.

Thus, the option A 'Respiratory diseases' is the correct answer.

Note: SPM originate from a variety of statistical and dynamic sources. They emitted directly from sources called primary emissions and if they formed in the atmosphere by transformation of gaseous emissions is called secondary emissions. The fine particles breathed in and they penetrate into the respiratory system and cause respiratory diseases.