Gloria Dickie

(Reuters) – Worsening outdoor air pollution and toxic lead poisoning have kept global deaths from environmental contamination at an estimated 9 million per year since 2015 – countering modest progress made in tackling pollution elsewhere, a team of scientists reported Tuesday.

Air pollution from industry processes along with urbanization drove a 7% increase in pollution-related deaths from 2015 to 2019, according to the scientists’ analysis of data on global mortality and pollution levels.

Richard Fuller is a study coauthor and heads the international nonprofit Pure Earth. He said, “We are sitting in the stewpot and slowly burning.” However, unlike HIV/AIDS, climate change and malaria, we haven’t paid much attention to environmental pollution.

An earlier version of the work published in 2017 also estimated the death toll from pollution at roughly 9 million per year — or about one of every six deaths worldwide — and the cost to the global economy at up to $4.6 trillion per year. In terms of deaths, this puts pollution in line with smoking. Since the outbreak, COVID-19 has caused about 6.7 Million deaths worldwide.

The authors analysed 2019 data from Global Burden of Disease (an ongoing University of Washington study that estimates pollution levels and determines mortality risk) for their latest study. It was published online in Lancet Planetary Health.

The new analysis looks more specifically at the causes of pollution – separating traditional contaminants such as indoor smoke or sewage from more modern pollutants, like industrial air pollution and toxic chemicals. These are the main takeaways.

WATER AND INDOOR AERIAL

The death rate from traditional pollutant are decreasing worldwide. They are still a problem in Africa, and other countries that are developing. Data adjusted to population showed that Niger, Chad, and Central African Republic were the three nations with most polluted deaths.

Some areas have seen a reduction in deaths due to indoor pollution through state programs. Similar deaths dropped by two thirds in Nigerian and Ethiopia due to these programs between 2000-2019. In 2016, the Indian government began to offer gas stove connections for wood-burning stoves.

MODERN POLLUTANTS

According to Rachael Kupka who is the executive director at Global Alliance on Health and Pollution in New York, deaths due to exposures to polluting chemicals such as heavy metals and chemical agrochemicals and carbon fuel emissions, “just skyrocketing,” rising 66% from 2000.

According to the authors, there has been some success in combating outdoor pollution. These include Bangkok, China and Mexico City. In smaller towns, however, levels of pollution continue to increase.

HIGHEST POLLUTION-RELATED DATES

Based on the study’s findings regarding mortality adjusted for population, it provided a ranking of 10 countries that are most likely to be affected by polluting deaths.

1. Chad; 2. Central African Republic; Niger; 4. Solomon Islands; 5. Somalia; 6. South Africa, 7. North Korea 8. Lesotho; 9. Bulgaria; 10. Burkina Faso