A study shows that the burning of fossil fuels kills us – Do you agree with that?

August 20, 2019 by Steve Hanley

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Doing science is difficult. You do not just put on a lab coat, grab a clipboard, and start publishing reports. The collection of raw data takes years and years and the analysis of these data in a statistically relevant way takes longer.

Researchers from the University of Washington, Columbia University and the University of Buffalo recently completed a study to determine the long-term effects on human health of four air pollutants resulting from the burning of fossil fuels – fine particles, nitrogen oxides, black carbon, etc. and ozone. The results of their study have now been published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study lasted 18 years and involved more than 7,000 people. It included a detailed review of air pollution between 2000 and 2018 in six metropolitan areas of the United States – Chicago, Winston-Salem, NB, Baltimore, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Minnesota and New York. Participants were selected from studies on the air and lungs performed as part of the multiethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA), according to an article published on the blog's website. 39, University of Washington.

"To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to assess the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollutants and the percentage progression of emphysema in a large, multi-ethnic, multi-ethnic cohort." about the community, "said first author Meng Wang, assistant professor of epidemiology and environmental health at the University of Buffalo, who led the research as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington.

"This is a large study with advanced analysis of over 15,000 CT scans repeated over thousands of people for 18 years. These results are important because ground-level ozone levels are rising and the amount of emphysema on CT scans predicts hospitalization and deaths due to chronic lung disease, "said the report. Dr. R. Graham Barr, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia University. the MESA Lung study and is the lead author of this article.

"As temperatures rise with climate change," Barr said, "ground-level ozone will continue to rise if steps are not taken to reduce this pollutant. But it is not known what level of air pollutants, if any, is safe for human health. "

Emphysema was measured using CT scans that identified holes in the small air sacs of participants' lungs and pulmonary function tests that measured the rate and amount of air breathed. The researchers found that if the ambient ozone level increased by 3 parts per billion in your home compared to another place over a 10-year period, this could lead to an increase in emphysema equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 29 years.

The study determined that ozone levels in some large US cities increased by this amount in part because of climate change. Mean annual ozone concentrations in the study areas ranged from 10 to 25 parts per billion.

"We were surprised at how much the impact of air pollution on the progression of emphysema on lung scanners was important, in the same category as the effects of cigarette smoking, which is by far the most well-known cause of emphysema, "said the chief investigator. – Dr. Joel Kaufman, UW Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health and Epidemiology at the School of Public Health.

"The rates of chronic lung disease in this country are rising and there is growing recognition that this disease affects non-smokers," said Kaufman, also a professor of internal medicine and a doctor at the UW School of Medicine. "We really need to understand what causes chronic lung disease, and it appears that exposures to air pollution that are common and difficult to avoid could be a major contributor."

Ozone is created when exhaust products generated by burning fossil fuels react with ultraviolet light, a component of the sun. The study found that most levels of air pollution are falling thanks to efforts to reduce them, but ozone has increased.

"This study adds more and more evidence of a link between air pollution and emphysema. A better understanding of the impact of pollutants on the lungs could lead to more effective ways to prevent and treat this devastating disease, "said James Kiley, director of the Division of Lung Disease at the National Institute. heart, lung and blood, a member of the National Institutes of Health.

"It's important that we continue to explore the factors that impact on emphysema," Kiley added, "particularly in a large, well-characterized, multi-ethnic adult group, such as those represented by MESA."

To take away

What does it mean? In simple terms, this means that the waste generated by the burning of fossil fuels – whether for transportation, power generation, industrial activity, or for heating homes and buildings – is slowly but surely killing us all. Forget about climate change We all live in a cesspool we have created. If we can not be disturbed to save the world, we should at least worry about protecting our own bodies from danger, should not we?

Here is a way to look at the situation. Imagine that all the gas or diesel vehicles that you see today emit poisonous darts directed right to the lungs of you and your children. If this thought does not cool you down, then there is really no hope for humanity.

Keywords: fine particles, fossil fuels, JAMA, ozone, University of Washington