New Directions: How dangerous is ozone?

摘要

Approximately one hundred years after the discovery of ozone, it was found that many human activities (e.g. combustion which leads to the formation of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) increase the concentration of ozone at the surface of our earth. Several groups have considered the high mortality rates of the 2003 heat wave in the UK and the Netherlands and have linked it to the concentrations of particulate matter and ozone that prevailed at that time (Fischer et al., 2004, Atmospheric Environment 38, 1083; Sted-man, 2004, Atmospheric Environment 38, 1087). This causes some concern because ozone at the surface of the earth can damage and destroy both plants and animals. As a result, the high ozone concentrations and their long persistence times have now become a new and frightening aspect of life on our planet. At genesis, some 4000 million years ago, all life was anaerobic. The gradual accumulation of atmospheric oxygen introduced both opportunity and risk; some anaerobes began to "breathe" it and to create a completely new route for the production of energy through respiration: hence, the ascent of aerobes some 2000 million years ago.