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The effects of air pollution cost France some 100 billion euros ($110.1 billion) each year, a French Senate committee report estimated Wednesday, citing impact to health as the major expense.
The study said air pollution is not merely a health threat, but also represents "an economic aberration" costing the French state and businesses billions annually in treating illness, and financing employee sick leave, lost productivity, reduced agriculture yields and cleaning up sooty buildings and other venues.
It estimated the financial impact of atmospheric pollution for health reasons at "between 68 and 97 billion euros" per year, ranging from treatment of aggravated conditions like asthma to battling forms of cancer caused by smog.
It pegged the direct cost to France's health care system at least three billion euros per year. The remainder of the linked cost is largely attributed to time and productivity lost by businesses whose employees require sick leave during peak pollution periods.
Outlays for non-health reasons like lower crop production and the cleaning of blackened buildings were estimated at 4.3 billion euros.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gravis on Saturday July 18 2015, @02:50PM
just wait until they figure out how much it will cost to remove it from the air. :)
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday July 18 2015, @10:01PM
So I guess in France, you treat asthma and battle cancer outside of the health care system?
(Score: 2) by penguinoid on Sunday July 19 2015, @01:28AM
Instead of guessing that, you could read the very next sentence after the one you quoted:
The remainder of the linked cost is largely attributed to time and productivity lost by businesses whose employees require sick leave during peak pollution periods.
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Sunday July 19 2015, @02:28AM
I'm pretty sure health care costs will be larger than the costs due to lost productivity, unless they have an extremely poor health care system where most people die and you count as lost productivity their current job salary * 20 years.
(Score: 2) by penguinoid on Monday July 20 2015, @04:27AM
Well, the healthcare costs for a sniper bullet through the brain, or for several grams worth of cyanide poisoning, tend to be zero. Doesn't mean those are not severe conditions, they just don't have a high healtcare cost. I suppose for air pollution, there would be increases in asthma medication and cancer treatment (but if they only measured immediate hospitalizations, then the cancer costs would be hidden).
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.