New Delhi, Oct 20: Environmental pollution is ‘deadlier’ than wars, natural disasters, AIDS, hunger or any other deadly events or disease, according to a study released in The Lancet medical journal. The study said that pollution – from filthy air to contaminated water – is killing more people every year than wars smoking, tuberculosis and malaria combined. The study also says that environmental pollution costs trillions of dollars every year and it warns that the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies”.
“Pollution is a massive problem that people aren’t seeing because they’re looking at scattered bits of it,” Landrigan, one of the authors, said. (Also Read: Delhi Cracker Ban Goes up in Smoke, But Pollution Level Better Than Last Year)
The study said that every six premature deaths, which were about 9 million, in 2015 were due to the air pollution and exposure to it. The report said that toxic air, water, soils, and workplaces are responsible for the diseases that kill one in every six people around the world and the total could be in millions as people poorly understand the impact of pollutants.
“Pollution is one of the great existential challenges of the [human-dominated] Anthropocene era,” wrote the authors of the Commission on Pollution and Health in the study. “Pollution endangers the stability of the Earth’s support systems and threatens the continuing survival of human societies,” they added. (Also Read: Air Quality ‘Hazardous’ After Diwali, Pollution Level 24 Times Higher in Delhi)
Air Pollution problem is responsible for more deaths in Britain than most of its Western European neighbours. The massive cost nearly $4.6 trillion in annual losses. “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,” writes one of the authors of the study, epidemiologist Philip Landrigan.
In 2015, the number of deaths recorded in India was 2.5 million, and China with 1.8 million. Other countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, North Korea, South Sudan and Haiti have also witnessed premature deaths caused by environmental pollution.
It also noted that air pollution from factories and vehicles have caused more deaths but the deadliest diseases are found in water. Soil pollution, which is equally responsible for the millions of deaths, has mostly been ignored. “What people don’t realize is that pollution does damage to economies. People who are sick or dead cannot contribute to the economy. They need to be looked after,” the study said.
