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[permaculture] Farmers' foe: Smog damage to crops costs billions - Yahoo! News
- From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
- To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
- Subject: [permaculture] Farmers' foe: Smog damage to crops costs billions - Yahoo! News
- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:16:00 -0400
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/environmentpollution;_ylt=Ap3Se7FkSERBcOcxuwy48Kdhr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcmljNmVhBHNlYwNtcm5ld3M->
Farmers' foe: Smog damage to crops costs billions
by Anne Chaon Tue Jul 11, 5:04 PM ET
ISPRA, Italy (AFP) - The internal combustion engine contributes massively to global warming, kills around 1.2 million people a year in road accidents and, scientists now warn, is costing billions of dollars in crop damage each year.
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The villain is a molecule of oxygen called ozone.
Way up in the stratosphere, the wafer-thin ozone layer exists naturally as a protector of life, filtering out ultra-violet sunlight that would otherwise slice and corrupt human DNA.
At ground level, though, ozone can be dangerous. Formed by a reaction between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted by road traffic, ozone smog can be a life-shortening problem for people with bad respiratory problems.
Another fast-emerging picture is that this pollution is also inflicting a rising bill in damage to food plants, especially in regions where hot, sunny, windless conditions favour ozone formation.
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- [permaculture] Farmers' foe: Smog damage to crops costs billions - Yahoo! News, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 07/12/2006
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