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A12 SCIENCE
Friday 20 May 2022

A pedestrian walks on a bridge above vehicle traffic in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019,
as the city is enveloped under thick smog.
Associated Press
Global pollution kills 9 million people

a year, study finds

By SETH BORENSTEIN and Evaluation in Seattle. of deaths,” said Philip
AP Science Writer India and China lead the Landrigan, director of the
A new study blames pol- world in pollution deaths Global Public Health Pro-
lution of all types for 9 mil- with nearly 2.4 million and gram and Global Pollution
lion deaths a year globally, almost 2.2 million deaths a Observatory at Boston Col-
with the death toll attrib- year, but the two nations lege. “The bad news is that
uted to dirty air from cars, also have the world’s larg- it’s not decreasing,” Land-
trucks and industry rising est populations. rigan said. “We’re making
55% since 2000. When deaths are put on gains in the easy stuff and
That increase is offset by a per population rate, we’re seeing the more diffi-
fewer pollution deaths from the United States ranks cult stuff, which is the ambi-
primitive indoor stoves and 31st from the bottom at ent (outdoor industrial) air
water contaminated with 43.6 pollution deaths per pollution and the chemical
human and animal waste, 100,000. Chad and the pollution, still going up.”
so overall pollution deaths Central African Republic It doesn’t have to be this
in 2019 are about the same rank the highest with rates way, researchers said.
as 2015. The United States about 300 pollution deaths The certificates for these
is the only fully industrial- per 100,000, more than deaths don’t say pollution.
ized country in the top 10 half of them due to tainted They list heart disease,
nations for total pollution water, while Brunei, Qatar stroke, lung cancer, other
deaths, ranking 7th with and Iceland have the low- lung issues and diabetes
142,883 deaths blamed est pollution death rates that are “tightly correlat-
on pollution in 2019, sand- ranging from 15 to 23. The ed” with pollution by nu-
wiched between Bangla- global average is 117 pol- merous epidemiological
desh and Ethiopia, accord- lution deaths per 100,000 studies, Landrigan said. To
ing to a new study in the people. then put these together
journal The Lancet Plane- Pollution kills about the with actual deaths, re-
tary Health. Tuesday’s pre- same number of people searchers look at the num-
pandemic study is based a year around the world ber of deaths by cause, ex-
on calculations derived as cigarette smoking and posure to pollution weight-
from the Global Burden of second-hand smoke com- ed for various factors, and
Disease database and the bined, the study said. then complicated expo-
Institute for Health Metrics “9 million deaths is a lot sure response calculations
derived by large epidemi-
ological studies based on
thousands of people over
decades of study, he said.
It’s the same way scientists
can say cigarettes cause
cancer and heart disease
deaths.
“That cannon of informa-
tion constitutes causality,”
Landrigan said. “That’s
how we do it.” q