Pollution killed over 9,000,000 people across the globe in 2019
Pollution killed one in six people worldwide in 2019, a new study has revealed.
That’s more than the number of people lost to war, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, drugs or alcohol.
According to the study, published by the Lancet Commission, air pollution was the biggest killer – claiming almost 6.7 million lives.
Epidemiologists explained that tiny particles emitted by traffic and industries get into the bloodstream and poison major organs, causing cardiovascular disease, cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) and even Alzheimer’s.
‘Pollution is still the largest existential threat to human and planetary health and jeopardises the sustainability of modern societies,’ Philip Landrigan, the co-author of the study, said.
The report calls for a rapid transition away from all fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.
More than 1.8 million deaths were caused by toxic chemicals such as lead — a 66% rise since 2000.
Deaths from hazardous chemical pollutants increased from 0.9 million in 2000 to 1.8 million in 2019, with 900,000 of those deaths attributed to lead pollution.
Air pollution, water pollution, lead and toxic occupational hazards were behind 6.67 million, 1.36 million, 900,000 and 870,000 premature deaths, respectively.
More than nine in ten (92%) of pollution-related deaths occurred in low and middle-income countries.
The study combined the most recently available Global Burden of Disease data with methodological updates and an assessment of trends since 2000.
The study’s lead author Richard Fuller, of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution in Geneva, said: ‘The health impacts of pollution remain enormous, and low and middle-income countries bear the brunt of this burden.’
The researchers have blamed industrialisation, uncontrolled urbanisation, population growth, burning of fossil fuels and an absence of adequate national or international policies.
Mr Fuller said: ‘Despite its enormous health, social and economic impacts, pollution prevention is largely overlooked in the international development agenda.’
The study found there had been little progress since a similar analysis by the same team in 2015.
Despite the well-documented increase in public concern about pollution and its health effects, researchers say that funding to mitigate it has only minimally increased since 2015.
It’s hoped an independent, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC)-style policy panel on pollution will now be set up.
The researchers also recommended increased funding for pollution control from governments, independent, and philanthropic donors, and improved pollution monitoring and data collection.
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