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Air pollution: Why and how it kills
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| The Economic Times , Friday, May 19, 2017 |
| Correspondent
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| * Air pollution is responsible for about one in every nine deaths annually, with almost twothirds of those deaths in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, the WHO says. * By 2040, Asia will account for almost 90 percent of the rise in premature deaths attributable to air pollution. * Ninety¬four percent of deaths are due to non¬communicable diseases such as cardiovascular problems, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. * Air pollution also increases the risk of acute respiratory infections. * Major sources of outdoor air pollution include fuel use by vehicles, dust from construction and landfill sites, coal¬fired power plants, agriculture and waste¬burning. * Air pollution comes in many forms. Two particle sizes are widely monitored: PM10, coarse particles of 10 microns or less in diameter; and PM2.5, fine particles of 2.5 microns or less in diameter
* PM2.5, about one¬thirtieth of the width of a human hair, can penetrate deep into the lungs and the cardiovascular system, posing the greatest risks to human health. * Only one in 10 people lives in a city that complies with the WHO air quality guidelines, which is a PM2.5 annual average of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre (g/m3). * The air pollution in Delhi is 12.2 times the WHO safe level, while in Beijing it is 8.5 times higher. * As millions more people move to cities in the coming decades, the number of people exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution will increase. * In 2013, exposure to outdoor and household air pollution cost global labour income losses of $225 billion. Lost income for South Asian countries alone topped $66 billion. * It is projected that global healthcare costs related to air pollution will increase to $176 billion in 2060, from $21 billion in 2015. * The annual number of lost working days due to sickness linked to air pollution is projected to reach 3.7 billion for the world in 2060, up from 1.2 billion now. * The cost of air pollution ¬ as a result of reduced labour productivity, additional health expenditure and crop yield losses ¬ could lead to annual economic costs of 1 percent of global GDP by 2060.
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| SOURCE
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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/environment/pollution/air-pollution-why-and-how-it-kills/printarticle/58730597.cms |
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