Terrifying facts about pollution from around the world - Fortunately, some nations are taking measures to diminish the pollution that humans are releasing into the world. The data on the effects of pollution is concerning, to say the least, and various organizations are attempting to find a solution to this very real and terrifying problem. Click on the gallery to discover some incredibly worrisome facts about pollution.

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Harmful to all animals - According to an article published in the Washington Post, the size of the polar bear's penis is currently shrinking as a consequence of pollution.

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The most polluted - According to The New York Times, New Delhi was the most polluted city in the world in 2014.

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Contaminated water - According to The New York Times, 90% of Chinese city water is polluted.

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Smells fishy - Fish that swim in polluted lakes lose their sense of smell.

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Air like cigarette smoke - According to an article published in the Daily Mail in 2015, breathing the air in Beijing is the equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes a day.

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Not safe to breathe - According to Indiatimes, breathing the air in Mumbai is the equivalent of smoking 100 cigarettes.

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Pollution snow - According to The New York Times, China's pollution leads to increased snowfall in California.

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Fatal numbers - According to Water.org, contaminated water kills children at the same rate as a large plane full of passengers crashing every four hours.

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Nuclear energy - According to NASA, the replacement of fossil fuels with nuclear power prevented 1.8 million deaths between 1971 and 2009.

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Water harmful to health - According to the World Resource Institute, approximately 300 million Chinese citizens drink contaminated water.

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Fatal air, learning from the past - The Great Smog of London in 1952, killed between 4,000 and 12,000 people within days due to the air pollution.

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Polluted cities - According to Mashable, in 2014, the five most polluted American cities were located in California.

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Imported pollution - According to an article published in the Washington Post, more than a third of California's pollution comes from China.

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Air pollution in lungs - According to Mashable, in 2014, 4 out of every 10 Americans are breathing polluted air.

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Infinite plastic - According to Recycle Across America, Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

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Fish sex change - According to the Daily Mail, a third of all fish that swim in British rivers undergo sex changes because of pollution from the female contraceptive pill contaminating the water.

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Cancerous air - According to the American Cancer Society, polluted air can cause lung cancer and is also linked to bladder cancer.

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Polluted lake - Lake Karachai, in Russia, is the most radioactive and polluted lake in the world.

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Premature babies - According to Reuters, a 2016 study showed that there are around 16,000 premature babies born every year in the United States and pollution is one of the factors.

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Scary numbers - According to an article published in the online edition of CNN, pollution is responsible for the death of 1.7 million children a year.

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Tampons against pollution - According to The Guardian, some scientists use tampons to measure the level of pollution in river water.

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Fatal pollution - According to an article published in Newsweek in 2014, 1 in every 8 deaths around the world are related to pollution.

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Trash in water - According to an article published in National Geographic in 2015, every year there are 8 million tons of plastic thrown into the oceans.

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Rising gas prices - According to The Guardian, when we account for the pollution costs associated with our energy sources, gasoline goes up in cost.

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Cars as a solution - In the beginning of the 20th century, horse feces were seen as a major source of pollution, making cars seem like an environmentally friendly solution.

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Animal deaths - According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, pollution kills approximately one million marine birds and 100 million mammals every year.

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Deadly bags - According to the site, SEE Turtles, thousands of marine animals die every year because they confuse plastic bags with jellyfish and swallow them.

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Electronic waste - According to Mashable, humans generated around 49 million tons of electronic waste in 2012.

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Color changes - The Taj Mahal is turning yellow because of high levels of air pollution.

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