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A Lancet Commission report has found that pollution is now the leading cause of disease and death worldwide:
Exposure to polluted air, water and soil caused nine million premature deaths in 2015, according to a report published Thursday in The Lancet.
The causes of death vary — cancer, lung disease, heart disease. The report links them to pollution, drawing upon previous studies that show how pollution is tied to a wider range of diseases than previously thought.
Those studies observed populations exposed to pollutants and compared them to people not exposed. The studies have shown that pollution can be an important cause of diseases — many of them potentially fatal — including asthma, cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, birth defects in children, heart disease, stroke and lung disease.
The nine million figure adds up to 16 percent of all deaths worldwide, killing three times more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Pollution is responsible for 15 times more deaths than wars and all other forms of violence. "No country is unaffected," the report notes. But 92 percent of those deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
Air pollution deaths in Southeast Asia are expected to double by 2050.
The Lancet Commission on pollution and health (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32345-0) (DX)
Also at The Guardian and Human Rights Watch.
Related: Pollution responsible for quarter of deaths of young children, says WHO
(Score: 1, Troll) by frojack on Saturday October 21 2017, @07:44PM (1 child)
But Correlation is not causation.
There is hardly any person in the world that is not exposed to some degree to one or more forms of pollution. Probably never was, as primitive people sat around camp fires since dirt.
To me this study seems like a SWAG, essentially deciding how many of the 55.3 million people who die each year can be tied (however tenuously) to Pollution.
Its not at all the same as the 1.25 million road traffic deaths world wide each year, where you count bodies from accidents.
If it was "contributed to" or similar language it would be believable, but "Caused" is a huge leap.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @07:57PM
It is really annoying how badly pro-pollution propaganda has messed with the minds of you keebler elves. Stick to making cookies, the lame "many sides" crap is getting tiresome.
The TL:DR of your comment is "there is no absolute way to tell anything, therefore who cares about this study on pollution, no one do anything."