• Pollutants in the air and waterImage by Flickr.com, courtesy of Richie Diesterheft
  
  

Definition

• Pollutant is a noun that identifies foreign substances or waste matter whose presence contaminates or adulterates the environment it is introduced into.
  
  

Function

• Pollutant is the agent that pollutes, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
  
  

Etymology

• Its root word pollute is from the Latin, "pollūt-" from "polluĕre," meaning, "to soil or defile." "Polluĕre" is from "por" or "pro," meaning forth and "luĕre," meaning to wash.
  
  

Considerations

• California Climate Change Portal defines pollutant as too much of something in the "wrong place or the wrong time." Pollutants are misplaced substances that, instead of bringing benefit to their foreign environment, they bring harm.
  
  

Toxic Sources

• While some pollutants are merely annoyances, other pollutants are toxic. Gasoline, paint stripper and dry cleaning chemicals are some sources of toxic air pollutants.
  
  

Effects

• Toxic pollutants cause cancer, birth defects and other diseases, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for controlling nearly 200 environmental pollutants.