OECD: Air Pollution Likely to Kill More than Dirty Water

Air Pollution Will Become Bigger Global Killer Than Dirty Water
http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/10477-air-pollution-will-become-bigger-global-killer-than-dirty-water

By Fiona Harvey, Guardian UK 16 March 12

[excerpted] "Urban air pollution is set to become the biggest environmental cause of premature death in the coming decades, overtaking even such mass killers as poor sanitation and a lack of clean drinking water, according to a new report.

Both developed and developing countries will be hit, and by 2050, there could be 3.6 million premature deaths a year from exposure to particulate matter, most of them in China and India. But rich countries will suffer worse effects from exposure to ground-level ozone, because of their ageing populations – older people are more susceptible....

Read the article at the link above

Majia here: The toxicity of air pollution cannot be under-estimated.

Recently studies linked urban air pollution with autism.

http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/wsj-hidden-toll-of-traffic-jams.html

The Hidden Toll of Traffic Jams: Scientists Increasingly Link Vehicle Exhaust With Brain-Cell Damage, Higher Rates of Autism http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577024000381790904.html

Furthermore, the ingredients of urban air pollution are not fully understood because the EPA requirements for reporting emissions are incomplete

http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/epa-toxic-release-inventory-incomplete.html

Once again, the data on pollution document the pressing need to find new ways forward that produce fewer environmental externalities.