Higher bar set in bid to cut air pollution
THE harmful health effects of air pollution kick in at lower levels than previously thought, according to the World Health Organisation.
The organisation is setting a higher bar for policymakers and the public in its first update to its air quality guidelines in 15 years.
The UN health agency released its revised Air Quality Guidelines as climate change is a leading topic at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that China will no longer fund power plants fired by coal, which generates several of the pollutants covered by the guidelines.
Since the last update of the WHO recommendations, better monitoring and science have cleared up the global picture about the effects of six major air pollutants on human health. According to the agency, 90% of the world’s people already live in areas with at least one particularly harmful type of pollutant.
Exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause 7 million premature deaths and affect the health of millions more people each year.
Air pollution “is now recognised as the single biggest environmental threat to human health,” said Dr Dorota Jarosinska, WHO Europe program manager for living and working environments.
Air pollution is now comparable to other global health risks like unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking, WHO said.
The guidelines, which are not legally binding and intended as a reference for policymakers, advocacy groups and academics, lower the advised concentrations of six pollutants known to have impacts on health: two types of particulate matter known as PM 2.5 and PM 10, as well as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide.
While wealthy countries in Europe, Asia and North America have made strides in improving air quality in recent years, WHO says globally more than 90% of the world population breathes air with PM 2.5 concentrations that exceed the recommended levels in its last guidelines, published in 2006.
Such particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, and cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
Air pollution has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and early death, and recent evidence has suggested negative effects on pregnancy, cognitive development in children, and mental health, experts say.
The new guidelines set or revise downward recommended air pollution levels for nearly all of the six particles both on a daily and annual basis. For example, they slashed the PM 2.5 recommendation on an annual basis to 5 micrograms per cubic meter, down from 10 previously.
“That is just a huge change,” said Susan Anenberg, associate professor of environmental and occupational health and global health at George Washington University. “This annual average for PM 2.5 in the guidelines is going to be extremely difficult to meet... There’s very few people on the planet right now that have exposures that are that low.
“In order for major countries around the world to achieve that is going to require major changes to our human systems. They have to stop burning fossil fuels.”