August 29, 2023
"Particulate
pollution remains the world's greatest external risk to human health, with the
impact on life expectancy comparable to that of smoking."
High and rising
levels of global particulate matter pollution—caused by wildfires, the
combustion of fossil fuels, and other factors—are cutting 2.3 years off of the
average human's life expectancy, according to research unveiled Tuesday.
The latest version
of the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), produced annually by the Energy Policy
Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), estimates that fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) pollution's impact on global human life expectancy is "comparable
to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water,
more than five times that of transport injuries like car crashes, and more than
seven times that of HIV/AIDS."
Despite the terrible
impact of air pollution on human health, governments around the world are doing
little to address the crisis, according to EPIC's research.
"While there is
a large global fund for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis that annually
disburses 4 billion USD toward the issues, there is no equivalent set of
coordinated resources for air pollution," the new report states. "The
entire continent of Africa receives under 300,000 USD in philanthropic funds
toward air pollution. Just 1.4 million USD goes to Asia (outside of China and
India). Europe, the United States, and Canada receive 34 million USD, according
to the Clean Air Fund."
Michael Greenstone,
a creator of the AQLI, noted in a statement that "three-quarters of air
pollution's impact on global life expectancy occurs in just six countries,
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, and Indonesia, where people lose
one to more than six years off their lives because of the air they
breathe."
In the United
States, 20 of the 30 most polluted counties in 2021 were in California, which
saw more than 8,800 fires that year. Plumas County, California was the most
polluted area of the U.S. in 2021.
The new research
estimates that Plumas residents could gain 2.1 years of life expectancy if air
quality in the California county is brought into line with World Health
Organization (WHO) air quality standards.
EPIC's report notes
that the annual average PM2.5 level worldwide "has shifted between 3.8 to
7.2 times the WHO guideline, making air pollution the greatest external threat
to human health globally."
Reducing global air
pollution to levels recommended by the WHO would save a combined 17.8 billion
life-years worldwide, according to EPIC.
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