POISONING THE AIR

People are missing out on 2.9 years of life expectancy because of air pollution, researchers have found, a bigger toll than tobacco smoking (2.2 years lost), violence (0.3 years lost), HIV/Aids (0.7 years lost) and diseases spread by parasites and other vectors (0.6 years lost).

A year of life expectancy could be clawed back if fossil fuel emissions are cut to zero. 

If all controllable air pollution is cut – a category that does not include particles from natural wildfires or wind-born dust – global life expectancy could rise by more than 20 months. Should avoidable outdoor air pollution be cut, the team adds, more than 5.5m early deaths globally could be avoided every year.

“This corroborates that fossil fuel-generated air pollution qualifies as a major global health risk factor by itself,” the authors write.

“The loss of life expectancy from air pollution is much higher than many other risk factors, and even higher than smoking,” said co-author Prof Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. “That was quite unexpected, I must say.”

There are variations between regions and countries: such a measure would save 2.4m early deaths a year in east Asia and regain three out of the 3.9 years of life expectancy lost because of outdoor air pollution. However, in Africa only 230,000 early deaths a year, and just over eight months of the 3.1 years of life expectancy lost, would be saved. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/03/outdoor-air-pollution-cuts-three-years-from-human-lifespan-study