Air pollution shortens life for three years

The removal of a toxic cocktail of molecules and particles that “unlock” the lungs that come from burning oil, gas and coal would be returned on average for a full year, according to a paper published in the magazine {Cardiovascular Research.

“Air damage is a greater public health risk than smoking,” said about AFP Research Director Jos Lelived from Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany.

“Many can be avoided by replacing fossil fuels with pure renewable energy”.

Compared with other causes of premature death, air pollution kills 19 times more people a year than malaria, 9 times more than HIV / AIDS and 3 times more people than alcohol, the study revealed.

Heart disease and heart attack are responsible for nearly half of these deaths, and lung diseases and other untransmitted diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure make up the rest of these deaths.

Only 6 percent of premature mortality is due to contaminated lung cancer.

The hardest - hit regime is Asia, where average life expectancy has decreased by 4.1 years in China, 3.9 years in India and 3.8 years in Pakistan.

Life in Africa is also reduced by an average of 3.1 years, while in some countries like Chad, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, or Côte d'Ivoire, it amounts to between 4.5 and 7.3 years.

The world's least affected regions are like America, Western and Northern Europe.

Air pollution damages blood vessels by causing more intense toxic stress that leads to increased blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, or heart failure.

China's new rating is 2.8 million premature deaths annually, 2.5 times WHO estimates.

Scientists say there are signs in India, China, and other developing economies that humans are becoming increasingly resistant to polluted air.