WHO: Over 90% of world breathing bad air

[Џуманџи]

 

September 27, 2016

Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region—including China, Malaysia and Vietnam—are the hardest hit by air pollution, according to the World Health Organization

Nine out of 10 people globally are breathing poor quality air, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, calling for dramatic action against pollution that is blamed for more than six million deaths a year.

 

New data in a report from the UN's global health body "is enough to make all of us extremely concerned," Maria Neira, the head of the WHO's department of public health and environment, told reporters.

The problem is most acute in cities, but air in rural areas is worse than many think, WHO experts said.

Poorer countries have much dirtier air than the developed world, according to the report, but pollution "affects practically all countries in the world and all parts of society", Neira said in a statement.

"It is a public health emergency," she said.

90% of the UK's population lives in areas where outdoor pollution is higher than the WHO recommended limit of 10 micrograms per cubic metre. Credit: University of Bath

"Fast action to tackle air pollution can't come soon enough," she added, urging governments to cut the number of vehicles on the road, improve waste management and promote clean cooking fuel.

Tuesday's report was based on data collected from more than 3,000 sites across the globe.

It found that "92 percent of the world's population lives in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits".

The data focuses on dangerous particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres, or PM2.5.

Tracking bad air

PM2.5 includes toxins like sulfate and black carbon, which can penetrate deep into the lungs or cardiovascular system.

Air with more than 10 microgrammes per cubic metre of PM2.5 on an annual average basis is considered substandard.

In some regions satellite data has been complemented by ground-level PM2.5 measurements, but in much of the developing world ground readings remain unavailable, forcing the WHO to rely on cruder estimates.

Despite these data gaps, Neira said the UN agency now had more information than ever about pollutants in the planet's air.

Using both satellite and ground measurements "is a big step forward towards even more confident estimates of the huge global burden", of dirty air, she added.

WHO data shows that outdoor pollution is responsible for more than three million fatalities annually

Six million deaths a year

The WHO has estimated that more than six million deaths per year are linked to exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution.

Data is more solid for outdoor pollution, which is blamed for more than three million fatalities annually.

 

But indoor pollution can be equally as harmful, especially in poorer developing world homes where cooking often involves burning charcoal.

Nearly 90-percent of air pollution-related deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, the WHO said.

Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region—including China, Malaysia and Vietnam—are the hardest hit, the data showed.

Nine out of 10 people globally are breathing poor quality air, the World Health Organization says

Carlos Dora, coordinator at the WHO's public health and environment department, said that some of the strategies adopted to safeguard against polluted air have limited effectiveness.

For example, daily air quality warnings—like those sometimes issued in Beijing—likely do little to help the average person, since the real threat is exposure to sub-par air over extended periods.

Staying indoors on a day when the air is particularly bad accomplishes little, Dora said.

Additionally, the WHO has seen no conclusive evidence that face masks do much to filter dirty air, Dora added.

Using a different data set, the WHO reported in May that 80 percent of the world's city dwellers breathe poor quality air, a figure that rose to 98 percent in poorer countries.

http://phys.org/news/2016-09-world-bad-air.html

Vise na: (download) http://www.who.int/phe/publications/air-pollution-global-assessment/en/

[александар живаљев]

Е, мало смо их прешли, код нас ништа од индустрије не ради... (уз извињење Панчевцима)

[Grizzly Adams]

Да поновим што реко` на другој теми - мени се чини да ту квалитет бензина има огроман утицај. Можда и чистоћа улица, али то је више прашина - мада ни то није нимало безазлено.

На пример, у САД можеш да видиш људе како без проблема џогирају поред веома прометних улица. Ствар је у томе да се ту, и поред стотина аутомобила, једноставно не осећа ништа у ваздуху. Скоро да нема никакве разлике. Код нас поред улице се једва дише, а одатле и цео град буде загађен.

[Justin Waters]

18 minutes ago, Grizzly Adams рече

Да поновим што реко` на другој теми - мени се чини да ту квалитет бензина има огроман утицај. Можда и чистоћа улица, али то је више прашина - мада ни то није нимало безазлено.

На пример, у САД можеш да видиш људе како без проблема џогирају поред веома прометних улица. Ствар је у томе да се ту, и поред стотина аутомобила, једноставно не осећа ништа у ваздуху. Скоро да нема никакве разлике. Код нас поред улице се једва дише, а одатле и цео град буде загађен.

One gore mape jasno dokazuju da je kvalitet vazduha u SAD jedan od najboljih u svijetu plus i ti svjedocis da osjetis drasticnu razliku. Nije samo stvar benzina, priznao ili ne ipak EPA igra veliku ulogu kroz raznorazne regulacije. 

Inace i ja sam mogao da osjetim relativno kako to izgleda. Kad sletis iz Bangladesha u Zagreb, pluca se prosto rasire. Iako nisam vec godinu dana tamo, jos uvijek mogu da zamislim kako mirise vazduh u glavnom gradu Dhaki. 

[Grizzly Adams]

1 minute ago, Justin Waters рече

priznao ili ne ipak EPA igra veliku ulogu kroz raznorazne regulacije

Значи, ово ниси смео да напишеш...

[Justin Waters]

54 minutes ago, Grizzly Adams рече

Значи, ово ниси смео да напишеш...

Hahaha jest da je EPA osnovao Nikson, ali ljudi ipak rade posao. 

https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-two-rules-reduce-use-and-emissions-potent-greenhouse-gases

Cime se sve ljudi bave. Dok je CO2 goruca tema i realno prva stvar na kojoj bi s trebalo raditi u zemljama sa visokom zagadjenoscu, ovi su dogurali do stetnih substanci u friziderima i klima uredjajima. 

 

[Juanito]

И у Холандији је јако чист ваздух. Чист и ладан ветар долази с мора и носи све што не ваља у Немачку. Али хладноћа ми убија синусе и косинусе. Мени ништа осим Кариба не прија. 

[Џуманџи]

 

[Џуманџи]

Delhi closed more than 1,700 schools on Friday and Saturday because air pollution there is too dangerous for children’s vulnerable lungs.

This is the hardest time of year to breathe inside India’s capital because a number of issues exacerbate air pollution to a peak and help it settle into a low-lying haze.

Извор и више на: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/delhi-air-pollution-smog/

[Џуманџи]

Цитат

 

Europe chokes under freezing smog

Paris (AFP) - Heavy pollution enveloping much of Europe prompted emergency measures across the continent on Tuesday.

A toxic cocktail of extreme cold, no wind and heavy burning of coal and wood for heating has left many regions shrouded in smog.

In many countries, including Britain, France and Brussels, officials have cautioned against physical exertion for children and the elderly, and for people with respiratory problems.

Officials in Paris have ordered older, more polluting vehicles off the road since Monday, and cut the price of public transport.

Speed limits have also been reduced in many parts of France.

In London, a cloud of freezing smog forced the cancellation of around 100 out of 1,300 flights at Heathrow airport for the second day in a row, while Met Office forecasters had a "severe" warning in place for all of England.

Madrid has not issued an alert since a seven-day stretch of high pollution that ended January 1, which saw the city impose the first driving restrictions based on licence plates in Spain.

Eastern Europe has also been hit by blanket of smog, exacerbated by the heavy use of wood and coal during the cold snap.

Hungarian officials have issued pollution alerts for about 20 cities, including Budapest, where cars without catalytic converters have been forbidden from roads from Monday to Wednesday.

In Bulgaria, pollution has smothered the capital, Sofia, already considered one of the most polluted European capitals. But so far, officials have not imposed any specific restrictions.

Lawmakers in the Krakow region of Poland, considered the area with the dirtiest air in the country, approved Monday an anti-smog plan that calls for replacing the most polluting heating stoves by 2023.

Poland also plans to ban the use of low-quality coal -- an important but costly measure in a country where coal is used to heat 72 percent of homes.

Piotre Kopalka, 31, was among protesters who presented a petition calling on Warsaw to enact measures similar to those in Krakow.

"We want to live in a healthy city," he said, wearing a black robe and an anti-pollution mask, and carrying a scythe. "The situation in Warsaw is more and more worrying, we have to act."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/europe-chokes-under-freezing-smog-130608431.html

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/london-air-pollution-rates-worse-beijing-smog-china-vehicles-weather-a7545446.html

http://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/757867/Weather-forecast-UK-fog-pollution-smog-winter-week-ice-travel-flights

[Џуманџи]

Цитат

The US is the only developed country on a list of nations with the highest pollution-related deaths — here are the top 10

 

 

Environmental pollution — from filthy air to contaminated water — is killing more people every year than all war and violence in the world. More than smoking, hunger or natural disasters. More than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

One out of every six premature deaths in the world in 2015 — about 9 million — could be attributed to disease from toxic exposure, according to a major study released Thursday in the Lancet medical journal. The financial cost from pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is equally massive, the report says, costing some $4.6 trillion in annual losses — or about 6.2% of the global economy.

"There's been a lot of study of pollution, but it's never received the resources or level of attention as, say, AIDS or climate change," said epidemiologist Philip Landrigan, dean of global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and the lead author of the report.

The report marks the first attempt to pull together data on disease and death caused by all forms of pollution combined.

While the top 10 countries with the highest death tolls were reported mostly in Asia, a few countries outside the region appeared on the list, including the US and a few African nations. The US is the only developed country ranked in the top 10.

Here are the countries with the highest number of pollution-related deaths in the world:

#10 — Democratic Republic of the Congo: 123,942 (18% of all deaths)

Children collect filthy rainwater from a puddle at a makeshift camp in Kibati near Goma in eastern Congo. Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

 

#9 — Ethiopia: 129,450 (19.1% of all deaths)

A boy drinks water from a pond in Bule Duba village in the outskirts of Moyale, near the edge of Oroma and Somali regions of Ethiopia. Irada Humbatova/Reuters

 

#8 — United States: 155,155 (5.7% of all deaths)

Plumes of steam drift from a cooling tower of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant along Lake Erie in North Perry, Ohio. Mark Duncan/AP

 

#7 — Russia: 172,536 (8.6% of all deaths)

A car drives near the Karabashmed copper smelter in the Ural town of Karabash, one of the most polluted places on the planet. Thomas Peter/Reuters

 

#6 — Indonesia: 211,896 (13.5% of all deaths)

Pollution blankets the horizon in Indonesia. Business Insider

 

#5 — Nigeria: 257,093 (18.7% of all deaths)

An aerial view shows illegal refineries and pollution among the waterways in Rivers State. Paul Carsten/Reuters

 

#4 — Bangladesh: 260,836 (26.6% of all deaths)

Overcrowding in Bangladesh during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. Reuters/Adnan Abidi

 

#3 — Pakistan: 311,189 (21.9% of all deaths)

Children swim in a polluted river in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Caren Firouz/Reuters

 

#2 — China: 1,838,251 (19.5% of all deaths)

China has one of the worst cases of smog in the world. ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

 

#1 — India: 2,515,518 (24.5% of all deaths)

A boy plays in garbage-filled water in India. REUTERS/Amit Dave

http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-countries-with-the-highest-pollution-deaths-mortality-rates-2017-10/