Thursday, April 11, 2013

Air Pollution is a silent and deadly killer

Air pollution kills

The recent posts made show that air pollution is a silent and deadly assassin.  From 2007, deaths attributed to air pollution grew from  2 million to 6 million as announced by WHO Department of Public Health and Environment    Deaths in China grew from mere 700,000 to 1,200,000 just last year.   And they have the highest concentration of PM 2.5, measured at 991 micrograms per cubic meter. (Considered safe max level is 25)

What is deadlier is the invisible particulate ie the PM 2.5 which 30x thinnner than human hair.  It is deadlier because it can easily lodge itself into the lungs, or the blood cells and be carried elsewhere in the body.  That is why in  a study in England, spike in heart attacks/deaths has been traced to high level of PM 2.5 in air pollutants in England


No wonder, there are more deaths attributed to air pollution than to aids or malaria combined. WHO director for Public Health and Environment  Maria Neira cited the death toll for AIDS, then considered as a scourge to be just l, 700,000 and malaria 660,000, in a Reuters interview (broadcast by GMA news) in 2010


No comments:

Post a Comment