Pollution killing 9 million people a year: study

Reuters Videos
2 年前

STORY: Air pollution is killing 9 million people a year

according to a new study in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RACHAEL KUPKA, GLOBAL ALLIANCE ON HEALTH AND POLLUTION, SAYING: "We're seeing an increase in number of deaths from modern pollution. And so what I mean by modern pollution is that which is caused by industrialization, urbanization. // Conversely, we're seeing a reduction in number of deaths from traditional pollution. Right. This is a poverty related pollution. It's that caused by indoor cookstoves or water and sanitation and because of the amount of investment that's gone into those areas, we're really seeing those numbers come down. And so the overall net effect is actually that there's the same number of deaths. So the improvements that we're seeing in traditional pollution are actually being offset by this increase in deaths from modern pollution."

Kupka says deaths caused by exposure to modern pollutants

have risen by 66% since 2000

Some capital cities have seen some success in tackling pollution

including Bangkok and Mexico City

But pollution levels continue to climb in smaller cities

African countries are among the most affected by pollution-related deaths