
Pollution from manmade emissions and other sources like wildfires have been linked to around 135 million premature deaths worldwide between 1980 and 2020, according to a study by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
It adds that weather phenomena like El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole worsened the effects of these pollutants by intensifying their concentration in the air.
The tiny particles called particulate matter 2.5, or “PM 2.5” are harmful to human health when inhaled because they are small enough to enter the bloodstream. They come from vehicle and industrial emissions as well as natural sources like fires and dust storms.
The study, published in the journal Environment International, found that people were dying younger than the average life expectancy from diseases or conditions that could have been treated or prevented, including stroke, heart and lung disease, and cancer.
The study also found that weather patterns increased the deaths by 14 percent, and Asia had the “highest number of premature deaths attributable to PM 2.5 pollution” at more than 98 million people, mostly in China and India.
The study is one of the most expansive to date on air quality and climate, using 40 years of data to give a big picture view of the effects of particulate matter on health.
“Our findings show that changes in climate patterns can make air pollution worse,” said Steve Yim, an associate professor at NTU’s Asian School of the Environment, who led the study.
The World Health Organization has said the “combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution” are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths worldwide every year.
Air pollution has been a persistent problem, as the planet industrialized, and even beyond, as emphasized by the millions of premature deaths that can be attributed to it, despite humans having known for decades now, of the ill effects of air pollution, which carries particulate matter that is small enough to enter the bloodstream of human beings, affecting the health and even causing millions of deaths every year.
These effects can still be mitigated with a more determined and persistent effort against air pollution, which can only be achieved if the government and private sector cooperate, which is something that has been achieved, but has obviously not been enough so far.*