In the News
December 2, 2018
A new study shows prolonged exposure to fine particulate air pollution around the globe is on average shaving nearly two years off a person’s life expectancy.
It’s worse depending on where you live, such as India, where life expectancy is 4.3 years lower than if the country’s air met standards set by the World Health Organization.
The analysis done by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute found the greatest external threat to life expectancy of people is prolonged exposure to air pollution — with larger impacts than AIDS, cigarette smoking, war or terrorism.
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The good news is areas of the globe where pollution has been greatly diminished over the decades.
While Los Angeles used to be known as the smog capital of the world, fine particulate pollution has decreased there by nearly 40 percent since 1970, when the Clean Air Act established the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
By 1980, the nation saw a 50 percent decrease in fine particulate pollution, according to the study.