NECESSITY
ENVIRONMENTAL
STANDARDS STANDARDSON THE MOON
Running head:OF
NECESSITY
OF ENVIRONMENTAL
ON THE MOON

Necessity of Establishing International Environmental Standards toPrevent Pneumoconiosis on the Moon

Ⅰ. Introduction
Half a century after Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 arrived on the Moon in July 1969
(Aoto, 2011, p. 96), humanity's geographical area extends beyond the framework of the earth
and reaches out to the moon. Humans have built civilization by accumulating a lot ofknowledge, discovering resources, and developing them until today. However, as human’s
lives have become more affluent, humans must also pay attention to the various risks thathave emerged in working and living environments that can be hazardous to health. In Japan,
the economic growth of the country during the high economic growth period during 1955 to
1973, was accompanied by a variety of pollution and industrial accidents, such as Yokkaichi
asthma, Minamata disease and Itai-itai disease. In recent years, like the SDGs Goal. 3 Target
3. 9 (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3) and Goal. 11 Target 11. 6(https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11) advocated by the United Nations, there has been a tendency
to emphasize the realization of sustainable development, curbing the pollution of theenvironment due to industrial development. Thus, as the race for development and resource
exploitation on the Moon is expected to be getting up speed, it must also consider how toguarantee health and safety for the people who work and live in that environment.
Now, the lunar surface environment, one of the frontiers of today, as well as the caseon Earth, should be considered for the health risks of various types of pollution and poor
environment at work and in life. Previous international missions to the Moon have provided a1

NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOON
variety of information to show that the lunar surface is partly similar to and different from the
Earth's environment. In this paper, it will focus on (1) the risk, definition, history, anddifficulty in treating pneumoconiosis (silicosis), (2) the similarity between the crustal
composition of the Moon and that of the Earth, and (3) the behavior of powder particles dueto the low gravity environment on the Moon, in order to emphasize the need to establish
international environmental standards for the prevention of pneumoconiosis on the Moon.

II. Risks of pneumoconiosis (silicosis), its definition, history and difficulty of treatment
On this paper, Pneumoconiosis is a disease that has been a problem on Earth for a longtime, and it is claimed to be a risk for the lunar environment as well. Here, it discusses thedangers of pneumoconiosis itself and the difficulty of its treatment, and show the need toestablish hygienic environmental standards to prevent the risk of developing this disease on
the Moon.
In the first place, pneumoconiosis is caused by the inhalation of fine, water-insoluble
dust that stagnates in the air, which damages the cells and tissues inside the lungs and causes
collagen and other substances to be deposited in the lungs, reducing the elasticity of thelungs' ability to take in air, thereby irreversibly reducing the ability of the lungs to exchange
oxygen and carbon dioxide gas. It differs in pathogenesis from viral diseases such as
influenza and colds or bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, and is a traumatic disease inwhich silicate compounds in the vitreous body or dust made of carbon such as coal, asbestos,or particulates such as aluminum or iron are used to damage the lungs.
For example, one could interpret this as a metal fragment lodged in the body and noteasily removed from the lung. It is, in other words, an injury with countless fragments lodged
in the delicate tissue. Of course, as long as it is an injury, bleeding and inflammation will
occur. Furthermore, since these fragments cannot be removed, there is no hope of recovery to2

NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOON
smooth, normal tissue. This is what happens at a microscopic level in the lungs, and that iswhat pneumoconiosis is.
Another factor that makes the disease irreversible is that it occurs in the delicate tissueof the lungs. The lungs are normally responsible for taking in oxygen from the air it takes inand exchanging it for carbon dioxide, which is essential to human life. The place where theexchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases takes place is called alveoli, which aremicroscopic tissues about 0. 2 mm in size each, and the internal tissue of the lungs is made up
of countless numbers of these alveoli, which come together like clusters of grapes. If
countless knife-like particles pierce the delicate and vital tissues, and all of these particles
cannot be removed because they are microscopic, the patient's prognosis is poor. The only
treatment available is symptomatic treatment such as oxygen inhalation therapy, antitussives
and expectorants for cough symptoms, and the progression of symptoms is irreversible. Suchdifficulty in treating pneumoconiosis is the problem of this disease.
The history of pneumoconiosis as a disease caused by the working environment andother factors is long, and according to Youko Sakaoka, "masks using pig's bladdermembranes were invented in the Roman Empire (20s)" to prevent the risk of exposure to dust
at work. Therefore, it seems that measures to prevent the risk of exposure to dust at work
have been in place since time immemorial. (Sakaoka, 1997, p. 19). Throughout humanhistory, pneumoconiosis has been a problem at work, from masons to miners in the past, andin fiscal year 2019 in Japan, the data for the construction industry (46 cases), ceramic andearthenware manufacturing (35 cases), and mining industry (34 cases) in descending order ofmagnitude, with the total number of cases reaching 164 per year (Japan Industrial Safety &Health Association, 2020, p. 24-33). It should also be noted that although this figure is lessthan the annual number of 6015 illnesses caused by injuries, it is not negligible, as it is higher
than 51 cases of cerebrovascular and cardiac diseases due to excessive work, 58 cases of3

NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOON
mental disorders due to work that involves a high psychological load, and 113 cases of illness
caused by pathogens. Hence, it is no exaggeration to say that the risks of pneumoconiosis in
the workplace have always existed alongside those of human history and society. As seen in
today's home health care setting, it is not hard to imagine that the lives of patients withgreatly reduced oxygen uptake would be severely restricted in terms of mobility, movement,
and daily life. Even the slightest movement can cause them to be out of breath, as if they had
just run at full speed sooner. This is another frightening aspect of pneumoconiosis. Because
silica is found in the earth's crust, pneumoconiosis is also common at workplaces in Japan.
Therefore, it is important to consider not only how to alleviate the symptoms of diseases forwhich there is no effective treatment, but also how to manage environmental hygiene toprevent the occurrence of such diseases. Since the lunar work and living environment is as
closed as that of the tunnels, the measures for exposure to such dust must be carefully
implemented. Because the lunar environment is expected to be different from that on Earth interms of surgical equipment and inhalation and therapeutic supplies, strict international
standards for air hygiene in lunar facilities will need to be established in advance to ensure
the universal safety of the people who work and live there.

III. Verification of high pneumoconiosis risk on the lunar surface due to similarities in
the composition of the lunar and terrestrial crust
In the previous section II, I explained that measures must be taken to prevent
pneumoconiosis on the Moon as well as in the Earth's environment. However, it is necessary
to examine whether the dust that is dispersed in the air on the Earth and on the Moon is of thesame quality and has the same pathogenicity. In this section, it will show the similarities
between the composition of the Earth's and the Moon's crustal composition and discuss the4NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOON
necessity of establishing an international standard for air quality sanitation in the lunar
environment to control dust in the lunar environment as well as in the Earth's environment.
According to Masanori Horie, regarding the composition of lunar regolith, thecomposition of regolith brought back from the moon so far is as follows: SiO2: 41-47%,
Al2O3: 10-30%, CaO: 10-17%, FeO: 4-20%, MgO: 4-13% (Horie et al. 2012, p. 238). SiO2,
commonly known as silica, is one of the causative agents of silicosis, a type of
pneumoconiosis. According to Eiji Ohtani, the composition of the Earth's crust is roughly
SiO2: less than 60%, Al2O3: less than 20%, CaO: 10%, FeO: 10%, and MgO: 10% (Ohtani,
2005, p. 339). The results show that the crustal composition of the Moon and the Earth varies
slightly, but the silica SiO2 accounts for about half of the lunar crustal composition, followed
by Al2O3, CaO, FeO, and MgO, which are the same as those of the Earth. The risk ofdeveloping pneumoconiosis from dust in tunnels and confined spaces on the Moon is
expected to be as high as in the Earth's environment.

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NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOON
If the composition of dust on the Moon is the same as that on Earth, thenpneumoconiosis could occur on the Moon as well. Furthermore, there is no flow of air orwater on the Moon. Even if one inhaled the lunar sand on the surface of the Earth, the lunar
sand would not be abraded or eroded by wind or water and would remain as dust with its
sharp physical structure. This suggests that the lunar sand continues to maintain its sharp
physical structure with a high degree of damage to the human body. Therefore, it is necessary
to establish environmental health standards for the air in the lunar environment to reduce therisk of human exposure to regolith more strictly in the lunar environment, and to protect thehealth of people who work and live on the Moon from an institutional perspective.

Ⅳ. The Behavior of Powder Particles in the Lunar Low Gravity Environment and theHigher Risk of Pneumoconiosis in the Lunar Environment Compared to Earth
In the previous sections II and III, it showed the severity of pneumoconiosis and thepossibility that pneumoconiosis may occur on the Moon as well as in the Earth's
environment. This time, I will discuss the necessity of establishing international
environmental health standards for the lunar environment in the future development of thelunar surface, proving that the human body is more likely to be exposed to dust in the lunar
environment than in the earth's environment.
The gravitational acceleration of the moon is about 1. 6 m/s², which is about one-sixthof the earth's 9. 8 m/s². Gravity means the force that attracts an object to the earth, and thestronger this force is, the stronger and faster the object can be pulled to the earth. Normally,
the calculation of fall speed with gravity can be expressed as “ v = g・t " (v: fall speed, g:gravity acceleration, t: time). This shows that gravity is proportional to the fall rate of an

object under normal circumstances, and the fall rate of an object on the surface of the Moon,

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NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOON
where the acceleration of gravity is lower than on the Earth, is expected to be lower and takelonger to reach the surface. Now, it considers the case of microscopic particles such as
powder. When calculating the settling velocity of a small particle like powder, it is necessary
to verify it after taking into account the factors related to air resistance.
According to Yasuo Morimoto, the size of inhalable particles on the earth is less than
10 μm (PM10), while on the moon, the size of particles of 25 μm are considered to be a riskof inhalation. Thus, it is noteworthy that the range of particles at risk of health problems on
the Moon is much wider than on the Earth (Morimoto and Horie, 2014, p. 76). Normally, thefalling velocity of powder particles can be calculated by the Stokes equation, which takes into
account the density of air and particle size (Okada, 1992, p. 16-21). In this article, it will use
the Stokes equation to compare the gravitational acceleration of GEarth and GMoon in theearth and lunar environments, respectively, to see how the falling speed of these particles
changes.

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NECESSITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE MOONAs above, it was found that the falling velocity of VtMoon is lower than that on theearth, and the powder remains in space for a longer period of time. This indicates that the riskof human exposure to dust is higher on the Moon than on the Earth. Therefore, it must ensurethat air quality measurements and countermeasures are implemented for dust at lower levels
on the Moon than the environment on Earth. And in order to achieve this, it will be necessary
to establish international environmental standards for the prevention of pneumoconiosis in
the lunar environment in order to achieve universal protection of human life working andliving on the Moon.

Ⅴ. Conclusion
So far, it has mentioned that in the lunar environment, various factors such as thepresence of lunar sand that is called regolith and low gravity can cause irreversible andserious diseases called pneumoconiosis. In addition, because the lunar facility is an enclosed
space like a tunnel, the air in this vacuum environment needs to be constantly monitored, andconcrete measures such as the wearing of dust masks with electric fans and the introductionof air cleaning filters are required to prevent exposure to the lungs from dust. Therefore, theneed to establish international environmental standards for the prevention of pneumoconiosis
on the Moon will increase in the future.
As the development of the Moon progresses, more people will have the opportunity tovisit the Moon in the future. In such a situation, it is necessary to look back on the various
occupational accidents and health and safety measures in the history of the Earth and to takepreventive measures to protect people universally, regardless of race or gender, with a viewto continuously exploring the frontier. Finally, the SDGs Goal. 12 Target 12. 8(https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12) proposed by the United Nations clearly state "People

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everywhere". This means that measures will be needed to protect all people, not only on the
Earth but also on the Moon.

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