New Studies Say Air Pollution Takes Away Over Three Million Lives Yearly


09/23/2015

Based on a recent study, the scientists say that air pollution is one of the reason for causing almost “3.3 million” deaths on a yearly basis.



The iflscience.com reports that this week’s Nature issue has published a new study that was conducted on the topic of air pollution. The study revealed that a shocking number of “3.3 million” die prematurely all over the world on an annual basis due to the “outdoor air pollution”.
 
Among the outdoor air pollutants, there are some particularly “fine particles” about the diameter of “less than 0.0025 millimeters”. As per the research report these time particles cause “long-term impacts” on our health. The study was conducted by Jos Lelieveld and his colleagues from the chemistry Institute of Max Planck brought together a chemistry model of global atmosphere that contained “population data” and the “health statistics”.
 
The air pollution causing increment in “premature mortality” rates are mostly being triggered by the emissions coming from the residential “energy use”. For example the wood burning practices for cooking and heating purposes. These kinds of emissions are having the “largest impact” on the global premature death numbers. As per the study the fine pollutant could be responsible for “about 1 million deaths a year”, which mostly occur in the regions of India and China.
 
However, in the greater part of the United States along with “a few other countries” the major outdoor air pollution sources are either from the traffic emissions or from the “fossil fuel-fired power plants”. According to iflscience.com, the study informs that:
“...in the eastern U.S., Europe, Russia, Turkey, Korea, and Japan, agricultural emissions are the largest contributors of fine particulate matter”.
 
In fact, Lelieveld was surprised to discover that farm emission causes “more than 600,000 premature deaths” whereby he remarks:
“I was surprised. What you tend to think is that [air pollution comes from] mostly traffic, and maybe industry.”
 
However, the ammonia generated from the use of fertilizer in animal husbandry is the potential threat that later can get “converted to fine particles”. Model of emission projection based on “business-as-usual emission scenario” shows that the premature death toll due to “outdoor air pollution” could increase two times more by the year of 2050 which will then turn into “6.6 million deaths a year”.
 
Furthermore, the Nature Geoscience also published a “related study” in this week wherein:
“...a team led by Dominick Spracklen from the University of Leeds looked at particulate matter concentrations after the substantial reductions in deforestation-related fires in the Brazilian Amazon since 2004. The researchers combined a chemical transport model with satellite and ground-based measurements in southwest Brazil and Bolivia to study the impact of this reduction on air quality and human health during non-drought years between 2001 and 2012”.
 
The researchers also found that between the months of August to October, which is comparatively the “dry season”, the concentration of the “particulate matter” have come down by thirty percent, attributing to the “result of fire reductions”, this prevented nearly “400 to 1,700 premature adult deaths a year across South America”. 





References:
http://www.iflscience.com