Study: Pollution kills 9M a year

‘Survival of human societies’ is at stake, global report says

USA TODAY

Pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world, accounting for three times more deaths in 2015 than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, according to a sweeping global study published Friday in The Lancet medical journal.

The report by the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health blames pollution for an estimated 9 million premature deaths, about 15 times more than all wars and other forms of violence.

It concludes that pollution “endangers the stability of the Earth’s support systems and threatens the continuing survival of human societies.”

More than 40 researchers from governments and universities worldwide worked on the study funded by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.

Pollution disproportionately kills the poor and the vulnerable, the report found. Nearly 92 percent of pollution-related deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries.

India leads the world in highest pollution-related deaths at 2.5 million, or 24.5 percent of all deaths in the country. China is second with 1.8 million, or 19.5 percent, and Pakistan third with 311,000 deaths, or 21.9 percent.

When broken down to most pollution-related deaths per 100,000 population, Somalia leads the list at 26.5 percent of all deaths in the country, with the Central African Republic second at 18.9 percent.

Britain, Japan and Germany landed in the top 10 for workplace pollution-related deaths.

Philip Landrigan, co-leader of the commission, said the 9 million deaths a year from pollution is “pushing the envelope on the amount of pollution the Earth can carry,” The Guardian newspaper reported.

Air pollution deaths in Southeast Asia are on track to double by 2050, he added.

The study determined that air pollution is the biggest killer worldwide, leading to heart disease, stroke and other illnesses.