The number of people dying as a result of air pollution may exceed the number killed by smoking, a major new study suggests.
German researchers estimate that as many as 8.8 million deaths per year globally can be attributed to dirty air.
In Europe alone they estimate there are more than 790,000 additional deaths as a result – double the previous estimate, which did not properly account for the additional rates of cardiovascular disease.
“To put this into perspective, this means that air pollution causes more extra deaths a year than tobacco smoking, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates was responsible for an extra 7.2 million deaths in 2015,” said Professor Thomas Munzel, one of the authors from the University Medical Centre Mainz . “Smoking is avoidable but air pollution is not,” he added.
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India’s Rashtrapati Bhawan is partly visible due to smog as traffic plies on Rajapth. Smog levels spike during winter in Delhi, when air quality often eclipses the World Health Organization’s safe levels
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Cooler air traps pollutants — such as from vehicles, building sites and farmers burning crops in regions outside the Indian capital — close to the ground
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A man wearing a protective mask walks amidst smog in the early morning in New Delhi
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Indian people receive treatment for respiratory problems at a hospital in New Delhi
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Buildings shrouded in smog
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A combination of pictures showing people wearing face masks to protect themselves against air pollution
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Indian workers are seen in the morning smog as they clean a lane littered with remains of firecrackers
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Smog envelopes the horizon in New Delhi
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Motorists on a busy road amid heavy smog
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A man cycles past a government building amid heavy smog
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Commuters are seen amid heavy smog in New Delhi
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An Indian shepherd walks along his herd of sheep amidst heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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A train moves through heavy smog
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A pedestrian crosses a road near the Indian President’s house
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India’s Rashtrapati Bhawan is partly visible due to smog as traffic plies on Rajapth. Smog levels spike during winter in Delhi, when air quality often eclipses the World Health Organization’s safe levels
AP
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Cooler air traps pollutants — such as from vehicles, building sites and farmers burning crops in regions outside the Indian capital — close to the ground
AP
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A man wearing a protective mask walks amidst smog in the early morning in New Delhi
Reuters
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Indian people receive treatment for respiratory problems at a hospital in New Delhi
AFP/Getty
5/14
Buildings shrouded in smog
Reuters
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A combination of pictures showing people wearing face masks to protect themselves against air pollution
AFP/Getty
7/14
Indian workers are seen in the morning smog as they clean a lane littered with remains of firecrackers
AP
8/14
Smog envelopes the horizon in New Delhi
AP
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Motorists on a busy road amid heavy smog
AFP/Getty
10/14
A man cycles past a government building amid heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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Commuters are seen amid heavy smog in New Delhi
AFP/Getty
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An Indian shepherd walks along his herd of sheep amidst heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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A train moves through heavy smog
EPA
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A pedestrian crosses a road near the Indian President’s house
AFP/Getty
Fine sooty particles and nitrogen oxides pumped out by car exhausts, factories and power plants can form a damaging cocktail which significantly increase rates of heart attacks, strokes and severe asthma attacks.
Regulators are looking to crack down on diesel cars in major cities as they are major producers of microscopic “PM2.5” particulates. These can contain heavy metals and other fuel chemicals which lodge in the lungs and enter the bloodstream.
The study, published in the European Heart Journal, used computer simulations of interacting natural and man-made chemicals combined with new information about population density, disease risk factors, and causes of death.
Air pollution was thought to have caused 64,000 deaths in the UK in 2015, including 17,000 fatal cases of heart and artery disease.
More than 29,000 other British deaths linked to air pollution were due to a range of conditions such as cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease.
This amounted to a reduction in average life expectancy of about 1.5 years in the UK; however; some of their European neighbours are much harder hit.
Co-author Professor Jos Lelieveld, from the Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, said: “The high number of extra deaths caused by air pollution in Europe is explained by the combination of poor air quality and dense population, which leads to exposure that is among the highest in the world.”
In Germany, air pollution was said to have been responsible for an extra 124,000 deaths in 2015 and 2.4 years of lost life expectancy. An estimated 81,000 people were killed by air pollution in Italy.
The academics called on the European Union to adopt tougher safety limits for PM2.5s set by the WHO, as current air pollution levels in Europe are double the safe level set by the health body.
“Many other countries, such as Canada, the US and Australia, use the WHO guideline,” said Professor Munzel. “The EU is lagging a long way behind in this respect.”
Additional reporting by PA
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