Study finds air pollution kills more people than smoking | New

Air pollution kills more people each year than smoking, according to a study published Tuesday in which he was called to take urgent action to stop the burning of fossil fuels.

German and Cypriot researchers estimated that air pollution caused an additional 8.8 million deaths in 2015, nearly double the figure estimated at 4.5 million.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that smoking kills an estimated seven million people each year worldwide.

The researchers found that in Europe, the main target of research conducted by the European Society of Cardiology, air pollution had caused about 790,000 deaths, of which 40 to 80% were due to cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke.

"Since most particulates and other air pollutants in Europe come from the combustion of fossil fuels, we need to move to other sources to generate energy urgently," said the co-ordinator. author of the study, Professor Jos Lelieveld of the Max-Plank Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and at the Cyprus Institute of Cyprus in Cyprus.

"When we use clean, renewable energy, we do not just apply the Paris Agreement on mitigating the effects of climate change, we could also reduce pollution-related mortality rates." in Europe up to 55%. "

"Smoking is preventable, no pollution"

On average, a toxic cocktail of pollutants from vehicles, industry, and agriculture shortens the lives of those who die prematurely by 2.2 years, the researchers calculated.

Worldwide, air pollution has caused an additional 120 deaths per 100,000 population in one year, with deaths in parts of Europe even higher, up to 200 per 100,000.

"This means that air pollution causes more deaths a year than tobacco, which, according to the World Health Organization, would have caused an additional 7.2 million deaths in 2015," he said. said senior writer Thomas Munzel, a professor at the University Medical Center in Mainz, Germany. .

"Smoking is preventable, but not air pollution."

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, focuses on ozone and the smallest particles of pollution, called PM2.5, particularly harmful to health because they can penetrate in the lungs and can even enter the bloodstream.

The researchers said new data indicated that the dangerous health effect of PM2.5 – the leading cause of respiratory and cardiovascular disease – was much worse than expected.

They advocated a reduction of the upper limit of PM2.5 in the European Union, which is currently set at 25 micrograms per cubic meter, or 2.5 times the value recommended by WHO.