COULD EXCESS OXYGENHARM YOUR LUNGS? Elvidio Miranda It is known that the air that we breathe contains 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Even in areas where there are many trees, the content of oxygen may not be of very higher levels than the 21% that the air contains. This air does not have a detrimental effect on the lungs as is very plainly evident. Now in the cities and industrial areas, where coal fired power plants and high vehicular traffic is present, the percentage of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide affect your health considerably. Oxygen that we inhale gets incorporated in the lungs to form oxy-haemoglobin which is distributed to all the extremities of the body through the blood stream. So 21% oxygen in the air is beneficial to the lungs probably because it contains the right amount of oxygen as also the right percentage of nitrogen which is an inert gas in comparison. However, the medical oxygen that is administered to patients, even with Covid-19 contains 90% of oxygen, 5% of nitrogen and 5% of argon which is also even more inert than nitrogen. Though this composition of medical oxygen is thoroughly researched and used, is there a possibility that the high percentage of oxygen content in medical oxygen is harmful to the lungs and may be thus cause harm due to its much higher percentage. A study of the harmful effects of medical oxygen has to be conducted by the medical authorities and researchers to confirm that medical oxygen is not harmful to the lungs and absolutely safe.
