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:: Air pollution and health

New studies have documented the importance for health of controlling air pollution. In the United States, air pollution may be responsible for 50,000 deaths annually, more than 2% of all deaths (Thurston, 1995), and similar health risks have been reported from France (Le Tertre et al., 1994), the United Kingdom (Anderson, 1994; Bown, 1994) and elsewhere (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1996). The self-inflicted air pollution from tobacco smoking now kills 3 million people a year world-wide, and this could rise to 10 million annually in four decades if present trends continue (Nakajima, 1995).

.. References and Sources..

Anderson, Ross. 1994. Report for UK Department of Health, quoted in Bown, William. "Deaths linked to London smog." New Scientist, 25 June 1994, p. 4.

Bown, William. 1994. "Dying from too much dust." New Scientist, 12 March 1994, p. 12-13.

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1996. Special issue, April 1996. Cited in "Death in the city" (15 European cities). New Scientist, 13 April 1996, p. 10.

Le Tertre, Alain et al. 1994. Regional Health Observatory for Paris, report, October 1994, cited in Patel, Tara. "Killer smog stalks the boulevards". New Scientist, 15 October 1994, p. 8.

Nakajima, Hiroshi. 1995. WHO appeal, 31 May 1995. Quoted in Evans, Robert. "U.N. blasts tobacco firms over smoking deaths." Reuter, 30 May 1995.

Thurston, George. 1995. Paper presented at international conference of American Thoracic Society and American Lung Association, May 1995, cited in Reuter news release, 22 May 1995.

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