POLLUTION KILLS 7 MILLION PEOPLE EVERY YEAR AND IS THE CAUSE OF 1 IN 8 DEATHS

[Gingersnap]

POLLUTION KILLS 7 MILLION PEOPLE EVERY YEAR AND IS THE CAUSE OF 1 IN 8 DEATHS. GIVE A DAMN NOW?
By MARIA CHENG, Associated Press March 25, 2014 at 1:36 pm

LONDON (AP) — Air pollution kills about 7 million people worldwide every year, with more than half of the fatalities due to fumes from indoor stoves, according to a new report from the World Health Organization published Tuesday.

The agency said air pollution is the cause of about one in eight deaths and has now become the single biggest environmental health risk.

“We all have to breathe, which makes pollution very hard to avoid,” said Frank Kelly, director of the environmental research group at King’s College London, who was not part of the WHO report.

One of the main risks of pollution is that tiny particles can get deep into the lungs, causing irritation. Scientists also suspect air pollution may be to blame for inflammation in the heart, leading to chronic problems or a heart attack.

WHO estimated that there were about 4.3 million deaths in 2012 caused by indoor air pollution, mostly people cooking inside using wood and coal stoves in Asia. WHO said there were about 3.7 million deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2012, of which nearly 90 percent were in developing countries.

But WHO noted that many people are exposed to both indoor and outdoor air pollution. Due to this overlap, mortality attributed to the two sources cannot simply added together, hence WHO said it lowered the total estimate from around 8 million to 7 million deaths in 2012.

The new estimates are more than double previous figures and based mostly on modeling. The increase is partly due to better information about the health effects of pollution and improved detection methods. Last year, WHO’s cancer agency classified air pollution as a carcinogen, linking dirty air to lung and bladder cancer.

WHO’s report noted women had higher levels of exposure than men in developing countries.

“Poor women and children pay a heavy price from indoor air pollution since they spend more time at home breathing in smoke and soot from leaky coal and wood cook stoves,” Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General for family, women and children’s health, said in a statement.

Other experts said more research was needed to identify the deadliest components of pollution in order to target control measures more effectively.

“We don’t know if dust from the Sahara is as bad as diesel fuel or burning coal,” said Majid Ezzati, chair in global environmental health at Imperial College London.

Yes, yes we do know what air pollutants are actually killing people. This is my field. We are not seriously wringing our hands in desperate confusion over this issue. It's pretty straightforward.

The particulates they are talking about are 2.5 micron particulates. We used to worry a lot about 10 micron particulates but that's over. Particulates of this size are tough to avoid but they aren't major particulates in most environmental exposures. Most exposures in our country, anyway. The biggest routine hazards are traffic, high, dusty winds (high winds in wet or snowy areas are not dangerous in this way), forest fires, wood fires, charcoal fires, candles, burnt foods, inhaled drugs (some, not all), and certain very regulated industrial areas like blasting operations, powder-coating, etc.

Basically, your risk here is really low even if you live next to the interstate.

The real problem is for women who cook several meals a day over open fires, particularly dung fires. These women have a very high risk of lung cancers if they live long enough. That's a real problem and it's one being addressed in a lot of novel ways in areas where women do this work. In these areas, banning cars and regulating industrial applications will not lower female deaths. Giving these gals gas to cook with will lower their deaths. (For the record, I'm for emissions regulations on vehicles and industry within reason but let's remember that the industries are also feeding these women - if they wanted to live a 16th century life, they and their men and children would be doing so. Urban life is a bitch in a developing country.)

For the record, I assume that simple sex kills way more people every year. You've got your killer STDs, childbirth, domestic murder, domestic slavery, suicides, rape/murders, etc.

RYOT


Read more at http://www.ryot.org/pollution-kills-...qLAzxKyffCt.99

[Adam]

I would love to see how many people the WHO claims were killed by the "pollutant" known as "carbon dioxide."

[Novaheart]

Yes, yes we do know what air pollutants are actually killing people. This is my field. We are not seriously wringing our hands in desperate confusion over this issue. It's pretty straightforward.

The particulates they are talking about are 2.5 micron particulates. We used to worry a lot about 10 micron particulates but that's over. Particulates of this size are tough to avoid but they aren't major particulates in most environmental exposures. Most exposures in our country, anyway. The biggest routine hazards are traffic, high, dusty winds (high winds in wet or snowy areas are not dangerous in this way), forest fires, wood fires, charcoal fires, candles, burnt foods, inhaled drugs (some, not all), and certain very regulated industrial areas like blasting operations, powder-coating, etc.

Basically, your risk here is really low even if you live next to the interstate.

The real problem is for women who cook several meals a day over open fires, particularly dung fires. These women have a very high risk of lung cancers if they live long enough. That's a real problem and it's one being addressed in a lot of novel ways in areas where women do this work. In these areas, banning cars and regulating industrial applications will not lower female deaths. Giving these gals gas to cook with will lower their deaths. (For the record, I'm for emissions regulations on vehicles and industry within reason but let's remember that the industries are also feeding these women - if they wanted to live a 16th century life, they and their men and children would be doing so. Urban life is a bitch in a developing country.)

For the record, I assume that simple sex kills way more people every year. You've got your killer STDs, childbirth, domestic murder, domestic slavery, suicides, rape/murders, etc.

RYOT


Read more at http://www.ryot.org/pollution-kills-...qLAzxKyffCt.99

Calling cooking and heating fumes "air pollution" somewhat distorts the issue. Saying that a person died from cooking fumes is dying from air pollution is like saying that a person who died in a forest fire died from Global Warming.

[Novaheart]

I would love to see how many people the WHO claims were killed by the "pollutant" known as "carbon dioxide."

Not to mention the woman who died from "air pollution" on her yacht because there was a leak from the engine room to the cabin and the carbon monoxide collected in the bathroom.

[Gingersnap]

Calling cooking and heating fumes "air pollution" somewhat distorts the issue. Saying that a person died from cooking fumes is dying from air pollution is like saying that a person who died in a forest fire died from Global Warming.

In my world this makes sense if you explicitly describe dung-fueled cooking fires. If you are attempting to scare people out of searing that fish, it's absurd.