Scientists: BREATHING is harmful to the environment.

A new study has shown that gases present in the air exhaled from human lungs drive global warming. Scientists claim that methane and nitrous oxide in the air we exhale comprise up to 0.1 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. This does not even include the gases released from burping and flatulence, nor emissions from our skin. The recent study was conducted by Dr. Nicholas Cowan, an atmospheric physicist at the British Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh. "Human exhaled breath may contain small, elevated concentrations of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) that contribute to global warming," says Dr. Cowan and his colleagues. "We urge caution in assuming human emissions are negligible." As most of us remember from science classes at school, people inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. When we inhale, air enters the lungs, and oxygen from that air enters the blood, while carbon dioxide (CO2), a waste gas, passes from the blood to the lungs and is exhaled. In the case of plants, it is the opposite; plants use CO2 to produce oxygen as a byproduct (a process known as photosynthesis). Composition of human exhaled breath: - Nitrogen (N) - 78% - Oxygen (O2)* - 17% - Carbon dioxide (CO2) - 4% - Other gases, including methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) - 1% Every human exhales CO2 during breathing, but in their recent study, scientists focused on methane and nitrous oxide. Both of these gases are potent greenhouse gases, but because they are exhaled in much smaller quantities, their contribution to global warming may have been overlooked. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk