Staub // Dust
The WHO estimates that 91% of the world’s population live in cities and breathe polluted air. Our airways come into direct contact with this hundreds of times a day. Smoking also leads to increased deposits of soot or carbon particles in the lung tissue. Small particles of soot and other substances in the air are deposited in our lungs and cause a condition known as anthracosis.
Under the microscope, the particles can be seen in the lung tissue and especially in the lymph nodes – they are unmistakably deep black. These changes were first observed long before traffic-related air pollution. The changes are known from the time of coal mining, which was also referred to as the “black lung” of the miners.
