Pollution poses greater risk to all human life than tobacco, alcohol: report – By Brooke Kato (New York Post) / Aug 29, 2023
This report may not be the breath of fresh air climate experts hoped.
Air pollution reduces the average life span globally by 2.3 years, making it the “greatest external threat to human life expectancy,” according to the annual Air Quality Life Index report published Tuesday.
Researchers from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago found that the effects of merely inhaling unclean air were comparable to smoking, but caused over three times the damage of alcohol use or unsafe water and over 5 times that of car crash injuries.
In 2021, 20 of the 30 most polluted US counties were located in California, likely due to the state’s wildfires where some residents are regularly exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter, which measure at or below 2.5 microns, which has been linked to an array of health consequences that affect the brain and lungs.
