Ойн түймрийн утаа нь хүний зүрх, уушги, тархи болон урагт нөлөөлж, урт хугацааны туршид эрүүл мэндийн эрсдэл үүсгэдэг болохыг судалгаагаар тогтоожээ.
Ойн түймрийн утаа нь PM2.5 тоосонцор, азотын давхар исэл, озон, анхилуун нүүрсустөрөгч болон хар тугалга зэрэг хортой бодисуудыг агуулдаг. Эдгээр нарийн ширхэгт тоосонцор нь амьсгалын замаар дамжин уушгинд нэвтэрч, улмаар цусан дахь эргэлтэд орсноор хүний биеийн бүх эрхтэнд сөрөг нөлөө үзүүлдэг байна. Тухайлбал, European Heart Journal сэтгүүлд нийтлэгдсэн судалгаагаар ойн түймрийн утааны PM2.5 тоосонцорт удаан хугацаагаар өртөх нь ахмад настнуудын дунд харвалтын эрсдэлийг нэмэгдүүлдэг болохыг тогтоожээ.
Emory University-ийн хүрээлэн буй орчны эрүүл мэндийн судлаач Ян Лиугийн тэмдэглэснээр, ойн түймрийн утаа нь зөвхөн амьсгалын замын шууд аюул төдийгүй бие махбодод исэлдэлтийн стресс үүсгэж, өвчнийг хүндрүүлэх эсвэл хурдасгах нөлөөтэй. Түүнчлэн түймэр суурьшлын бүсэд хүрэх үед хуванцар болон хүнд металл зэрэг хортой бодис ялгарч, иргэдийн эрүүл мэндэд нэмэлт аюул учруулдаг байна. National Institutes of Health-ийн мэргэжилтэн Обри Миллер ойн түймрийн утаанд өртөхөд аюулгүй гэж үзэх босго хэмжээ байхгүйг онцолжээ.
Stanford University-ийн судлаачдын 2025 онд Nature сэтгүүлд нийтэлсэн судалгаагаар 2026-2055 оны хооронд PM2.5 тоосонцрын нөлөөгөөр 1.9 сая орчим хүн эрт нас барах эрсдэлтэй байгааг урьдчилан тооцоолжээ. Science Advances сэтгүүлд хэвлэгдсэн өөр нэгэн судалгаагаар 2006-2020 оны хооронд АНУ-д утааны нөлөөгөөр жил бүр 24,100 гаруй хүн нас барсан гэсэн тооцоо гарсан байна. Утааны нөлөө нь зөвхөн амьсгалын замын асуудлаар хязгаарлагдахгүй бөгөөд сэтгэцийн эрүүл мэндийн хямрал, аутоиммун өвчин, жирэмсний хүндрэл болон хорт хавдрын эрсдэлтэй холбоотой болохыг эрдэмтэд анхааруулж байна.
Иймд түймрийн утаанаас сэргийлэхийн тулд агаарын чанар сайтай байршилд байх, өндөр хамгаалалтын чадвар бүхий маск зүүх, гэр болон ажлын байрны агааржуулалтын системээр гаднах бохир агаар орохоос сэргийлэх арга хэмжээ авахыг мэргэжилтнүүд зөвлөж байна. Утааны нөлөөлөл нь гал түймэр намдсаны дараа ч ханиалгах, цээжээр өвдөх, толгой өвдөх зэрэг шинж тэмдгээр үргэлжлэх боломжтойг судалгаанууд харуулж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
This past week, a child stood on the observation deck of Toronto’s CN Tower and looked out at a city skyline blurred by haze.
Hundreds of miles away, National Guard troops patrolled a smoke-dimmed National Mall in Washington, and commuters pulled on masks.
Smoke drifting south from Canada’s wildfires has become an almost annual visitor to American skies. None of these scenes look that unusual these days.
What’s perhaps less familiar is how it’s impacting our health beneath the surface – inside hearts, lungs, brains, and even developing fetuses.
Wildfire smoke can deliver a cocktail of harmful air pollutants, including PM2.5, NO2, ozone, aromatic hydrocarbons, and lead.
It is killing tens of thousands of people a year.
Particulate matter in smoke can irritate eyes, noses, and throats, and it can travel deep into your lungs when you breathe. This can damage the lungs and make breathing difficult.
Small particles in the lungs can travel from there into the bloodstream – and their effects can persist after the visible haze is gone.
In a recent paper published in the European Heart Journal, scientists studying the effects of wildfire smoke on the brain and blood vessels found that “chronic exposure to wildfire smoke PM2.5 increases stroke risk in older adults”.
“Wildfire smoke is not only an immediate breathing hazard,” says environmental health scientist Yang Liu from Emory University in the US.
Research shows more people experiencing heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues, alongside a surge in mental health crises.
“Your whole body is affected,” Liu told Naomi Mihara at Deutsche Welle.
“Wildfire smoke causes oxidative stress to your system and exacerbates or accelerates the development of diseases.”
Part of the danger is what’s actually inside the plume. When flames reach a built-up town or city, the smoke is no longer just from burnt vegetation.
“We sometimes see smoke in the air hundreds of miles away from a wildfire,” said Aubrey Miller, an environmental disasters expert at the National Institutes of Health.
“Think about what’s burning: plastics, heavy metals, arsenic. These can cause a whole series of other hazards for the community.”
The acute effects are only the beginning.
PM2.5 particles have been linked to chronic disease, including autoimmune disease.
Smoke exposure during pregnancy raises the risk of premature birth and low-birth-weight babies, and longer-term exposure has been linked to some cancers.
“Our results also suggest that there is no apparent safe threshold for smoke exposure,” says Liu.
“That means even ‘moderate’ recurring smoke could matter, not just extreme events.”
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, more than 3.8 million acres of the US have already burned this year, and the amount of US land burned annually is now more than double what it was three decades ago.
The scale of the toll is already staggering, and the researchers tracking it don’t sound optimistic about where it’s headed.
“Our understanding of who is vulnerable to this exposure is much broader than we thought,” said Marshall Burke, an environmental economist at Stanford University.
In a 2025 study published in Nature, Burke and colleagues at Stanford University estimated that 1.9 million excess deaths from PM2.5 smoke could occur between 2026 and 2055.
“It’s pregnant people, it’s kids in schools, it’s anyone with asthma, it’s people with cancer,” Burke said when the research was published.
“We look at one specific health outcome in this study – mortality – and unfortunately find a shared burden of exposure for individuals across the US.”
A study published this year in Science Advances made a conservative estimate of more than 24,100 deaths a year in the contiguous US between 2006 and 2020, from long-term exposure alone.
“That’s a big number,” lead author and environmental epidemiologist Min Zhang, of Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York, told AFP.
“We found no evidence of a safe threshold for the chronic exposure to wildfire smoke…that’s a very concerning public health problem.”
Most people who struggle through a smoky week don’t end up as a statistic.But many don’t escape unaffected.
Coughing, chest tightness, sore throats, headaches, and brain fog can linger well after the fire has moved on.
Some concerning findings are also less obvious.
Researchers think smoke exposure could cause cognitive issues, and there is emerging evidence for an association. Meanwhile, at least one study has found a link between depression and PM2.5 exposure.
There are ways to lessen the impact.
Experts suggest finding a clean-air space – a designated shelter or even a library, wearing a high-quality mask outdoors (although it won’t offer perfect protection), and checking that windows, doors, and home ventilation systems are actually preventing outside air from coming in.
This article was fact-checked and edited by Fiona MacDonald. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know.
