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Smoke coming out of tar factory chimney in Jharkhand, India Alamy Stock Photo

Air pollution is the greatest global threat to human health, study finds

Residents of Bangladesh would gain 6.8 years of life expectancy if pollution was brought down to WHO guidelines.

AIR POLLUTION IS more dangerous to the health of the average person on planet Earth than smoking or alcohol, with the threat worsening in its global epicenter South Asia even as China fast improves, a study showed today.

Yet the level of funding set aside to confront the challenge is a fraction of the amount earmarked for fighting infectious diseases, said the research from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).

Its annual Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report showed that fine particulate air pollution – which comes from vehicle and industrial emissions, wildfires and more – remains the “greatest external threat to public health.”

If the world were to permanently reduce these pollutants to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline limit, the average person would add 2.3 years onto his or her life expectancy, according to the data, which has a 2021 cutoff.

Fine particulate matter is linked to lung disease, heart disease, strokes and cancer.

Tobacco use, by comparison, reduces global life expectancy by 2.2 years while child and maternal malnutrition is responsible for a reduction of 1.6 years.

Asia and Africa bear the greatest burden yet have some of the weakest infrastructure to deliver citizens timely, accurate data. They also receive tiny segments of an already small global philanthropic budget.

For example, the entire continent of Africa receives less than $300,000 (€277,000) to tackle air pollution.

“There is a profound disconnect with where air pollution is the worst and where we, collectively and globally, are deploying resources to fix the problem,” Christa Hasenkopf, director of air quality programs at EPIC, told AFP.

While there is an international financing partnership called the Global Fund that disburses $4 billion annually on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, there is no equivalent for air pollution.

“Yet, air pollution shaves off more years from the average person’s life in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Cameroon than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other health threats,” the report said.

early-morning-commuters-in-hazardous-levels-of-air-pollution-in-amritsar-india South Asia is the worst impacted region Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Bangladesh tops ranking

Globally, South Asia is the worst impacted region. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are in order the top four most polluted countries in terms of annualized, population-weighted averages of fine particulate matter, which are detected by satellites and defined as particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5).

Air pollution concentrations are then fed into the AQLI metric which calculates their impact on life expectancy, based on peer-reviewed methods.

Residents of Bangladesh, where average PM2.5 levels were 74 micrograms per cubic meter, would gain 6.8 years of life if this were brought to WHO guidelines of 5 micrograms per cubic meter.

India’s capital Delhi meanwhile is the “most polluted megacity in the world” with annual average particulate pollution of 126.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

China, on the other hand, “has had remarkable progress in terms of its war on air pollution” which began in 2014, said Hasenkopf.

Its air pollution dropped 42.3 percent between 2013 and 2021. If the improvements are sustained, the average Chinese citizen will be able to live 2.2 years longer.

In the United States, legislative actions like the Clean Air Act helped reduce pollution by 64.9 percent since 1970, helping Americans gain 1.4 years of life expectancy.

But the growing threat of wildfires – linked to hotter temperatures and drier conditions due to climate change -  are causing pollution spikes from the western United States to Latin America and Southeast Asia.

For example, California’s historic wildfire season of 2021 saw Plumas County receive an average concentration of fine particulate matter more than five times over the WHO guideline.

North America’s story of air pollution improvements in recent decades is similar to Europe, but there remain stark differences between western and eastern Europe, with Bosnia the continent’s most polluted country.

– © AFP 2023

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    Mute Great White Hope
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    May 13th 2022, 10:55 AM

    So many jokes here.. ahh

    243
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    Mute Jason Flynn-Wall
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    May 13th 2022, 10:57 AM

    @Great White Hope: way too many.

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    Mute John Mulligan
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    May 13th 2022, 11:12 AM

    @Great White Hope: I won’t fall into that trap….

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    Mute Alex Marquis
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    May 13th 2022, 4:47 PM

    @John Mulligan: will try my best not to either.

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    Mute Fr Romeo sensini.
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    May 13th 2022, 11:08 AM

    And yet we still re elect them.

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    May 13th 2022, 11:15 AM

    @Fr Romeo sensini.: as Dermot Morgan said during the hey day of satire on Scrap Saturday – the hardest thing about writing humour about our politicians in leinster house is that the reality of what goes on is such a joke shop it’s difficult to make stuff up that funnier

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    Mute Theresa Cahill
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    May 13th 2022, 11:47 AM

    What kinda of a pension do they get?
    At least they are turning up on a daily basis

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    Mute John Johnes
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    May 13th 2022, 10:56 AM

    Arent rats mice and slugs working in leinster house?

    129
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    Mute John Mulligan
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    May 13th 2022, 11:12 AM

    @John Johnes: you’ll have to do better than that

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    Mute Stephen Carslake
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    May 13th 2022, 11:00 AM

    Sure we have known for years its full of RATS and leaks.

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    Mute Ciaran
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    May 13th 2022, 11:55 AM

    @Stephen Carslake: Sinn Fein won’t stand for that .. they will find a bog for them somewhere ..

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    Mute john maughan
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    May 13th 2022, 12:10 PM

    Workers also found sloths, snakes, cheetahs, several white elephants and a cockortoo.

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    Mute Ernie Gallagher
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    May 13th 2022, 11:56 AM

    You regularly read of restaurants closed down for less.

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    Mute Andy mc Laughlin
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    May 13th 2022, 11:08 AM

    How many legs do the rats have?

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    Mute l
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    May 13th 2022, 11:16 AM

    Pay peanuts get monkeys, pay to much get Rodents & sluggss.

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    Mute Anthony Kielthy
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    May 13th 2022, 11:43 AM

    And that was before they checked for vermin !

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    Mute Munster1
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    May 13th 2022, 11:13 AM

    That’s not a very nice thing to say about our TD’s.

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    Mute Sumsoar Khan
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    May 13th 2022, 10:59 AM

    Waterford Whispers?

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    Mute Franny Ando
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    May 13th 2022, 1:01 PM

    I’m sure they felt right at home.

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    Mute Jonathan
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    May 13th 2022, 11:50 AM

    I knew about the rats

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    Mute Sarah Roche
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    May 13th 2022, 12:00 PM

    Only 6 months??? Are we sure about that?

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    Mute Caitlin Far
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    May 13th 2022, 1:01 PM

    Them and then there’s the politicians.

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    Mute Martin O Connell
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    May 13th 2022, 11:39 AM

    Shurr there’s been a massive SF infestation, there’s no getting rid of them.

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    Mute Franny Ando
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    May 13th 2022, 1:03 PM

    @Martin O Connell: Correct they are there to stay:)

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    Mute JAMES KELLY
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    May 13th 2022, 1:40 PM

    Will they have to apply for re-election ?

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    Mute Catherine Doyle
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    May 13th 2022, 2:03 PM

    I’m sure they felt at home

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    Mute James Delaney
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    May 13th 2022, 1:58 PM

    This is just to easy

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    Mute M
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    May 13th 2022, 12:55 PM

    We all have to have a crack at a few one liners. Come on people

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    Mute Ger O'Reilly
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    May 13th 2022, 12:29 PM

    That’s no way to talk about our TD’s

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    Mute Csilla
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    May 13th 2022, 3:42 PM

    This headline is actually very funny and hits the nail on the head.

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    Mute Alex Marquis
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    May 13th 2022, 4:47 PM

    Ah cmon lads. The most clickbaity piece I have ever seen in the Journal and that’s telling something.

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    Mute John Quill
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    May 13th 2022, 9:50 PM

    I pity the rodents

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    Mute Helen Kiely-O'Regan
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    May 13th 2022, 6:49 PM

    Sure leinster house is full of them already, the rats, mice and slugs will have to move elsewhere. Better still, leave them, they won’t cost the country any money in salaries and pensions

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    Mute Connie O Reilly
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    May 13th 2022, 7:05 PM

    At least they appear for what they are

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    Mute Padraig Thornton
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    May 14th 2022, 5:48 PM

    Id say they feel quite at home!!

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    Mute Hear me now
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    May 14th 2022, 6:33 AM

    The jokes just write with that headline

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