Pollution was responsible for the premature deaths of 9 million people in 2019, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal tea Lanceta record that is not improving, mainly due to poor air quality and chemical pollutants, especially lead.
Four years after the first report, the situation hasn’t changed: approximately one in six premature deaths in the world is related to pollution, the Pollution and Health Commission regrets Lancet.
Pollution and dirt created by humans released into the air, water and soil are rarely directly fatal, but cause serious heart disease, cancer, breathing problems or severe diarrhea.
The health effects remain enormous, with low- and middle -income countries struggling.summarizes the commission’s lead author and co-director Richard Fuller.
They make up 92% of these deaths and most result in economic losses.
Attention and funding have increased slightly since 2015, despite a well-documented increase in public concern about pollution and its health effectshe laments, quoted in a press release.
A factor that is almost as lethal as tobacco
While premature deaths associated with the types of pollution associated with extreme poverty are declining, those associated with air pollution and pollution of chemical products are rising.
” The impact of pollution on health is still greater than that of war, terrorism, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, drugs and alcohol, and the number of deaths caused by pollution is in competition with the causes of tobacco. “
In 2019, 6.7 million premature deaths were attributed to air pollution, 1.4 million to water pollution, 900,000 to lead poisoning.
The fact that the leading situation is deteriorating, mainly in these poor countries, and accelerating in terms of the number of deaths, is appalling.worried Mr. Fuller of the AFP.
Exposure to toxic substances can also cause a delay in the mental development of children.
As the mortality rate associated with pollution within the household (associated with burning fuels or with water or sanitation problems) dropped, particularly in Africa, the forms modern of pollution weighed heavily more than 20 years ago. In 2000, premature deaths associated with air pollution reached 2.9 million, and 4.5 million in 2019.
Fine particles and ozone in the air, exposure to lead, carcinogens in the context of his work, chemical pollution in the environment are taking over the soil, especially in Asia.
If we do not grow in a clean and green way, then what we are doing is very wrong.Mr. Fuller told AFP.
Source: Radio-Canada
