Deaths caused by air pollution almost equal to smoking toll

AIR pollution kills nearly as many people as smoking in Britain each year, new figures reveal.

Although it was previously thought that emissions were responsible for around 40,000 deaths in the UK, the latest figures suggest it is closer to 64,000, just 18 per cent less than the 78,000 deaths caused by tobacco.

A further 29,000 deaths in Britain also linked to air pollution were exacerbated by conditions such as cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease.

Globally, pollutants from vehicles, factories and power plants cause more deaths than smoking, accounting for 8.8 million deaths a year, compared with 7.3million who die from smoking.

Prof Thomas Munzel, from the University Medical Centre in Mainz, Germany, said: “Smoking is avoidable but air pollution is not.” In his study published in European Heart Journal, scientists calculated how the atmosphere and weather interacted with industry, traffic and agriculture, mapping them against population data from the World Health Organisation.

In Europe alone, the death toll was found to be 790,000 – twice the previous estimate.

The average lost life expectancy of someone dying in Britain because of air pollution was found to be 1.5 years, while across Europe it was 2.4 years.

In Britain, 98 deaths in every 100,000 can be attributed to inhaled pollutants, says the research, while in Europe the figure was 133 per 100,000.

It was worse in eastern European countries, which researchers said was as a result of poorer healthcare rather than worse emission levels.

Diesel vehicles were among the biggest producers of particulate pollution in the UK. In 2017, the Government said that it would ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in Britain by 2040.