Air pollution with ozone is linked to the premature death of 1 million people a year, according to a new study.
The number of deaths was double the number of deaths reported in previous estimates.
Scientists at the Stockholm Institute for the Environment of the University of York revealed that the figures in the study results show that prolonged exposure to ozone outside air pollution is responsible for the deaths of about one in five people affected by respiratory diseases around the world.
The results also showed that the levels were much higher than previous estimates dating back to 2003, indicating an early death of about 400,000 people due to respiratory diseases.
The results of the study, published in a journal on environmental health, were based on information from a recent US analysis of long-term exposure to ozone and death from respiratory illness to 670,000 adults.
Statistics also showed that India's share of the total death toll is about 400,000 deaths, followed by China, which recorded about 270 thousand deaths. While the continents of Africa, Europe and North America recorded a number of deaths ranging from 50 thousand to 60 thousand individual deaths, and the figures in Latin America and Oceania.
"This study sheds light on the fact that exposure to ozone may contribute significantly to the risk of developing the disease globally, contrary to belief," said Chris Malley, lead author of the study.
There was an area of uncertainty because the analysis was based on the study of ozone exposure in the United States, and the risk factors for respiratory diseases vary widely from one region to another in the world.
Ozone in the atmosphere consists of emissions of polluting sources, such as carbon dioxide emitted from vehicle exhausts, organic compounds, solvents and methane from agriculture.
Ozone remains in the atmosphere for weeks, and travels long distances from emission sources across countries and continents.
Experts study a mysterious chemical cloud, which affected about 150 people in the eastern province of Sussex over the weekend, which reported an increase in ozone levels in the region on Sunday.
"Our colleagues in countries, such as Ghana, Peru, Nigeria and Bangladesh, highlighted the importance of air pollution to health as a driver for reducing emissions," said Johan Collinsterna, co-author and director of the Eco-Environmental Institute.
"To reduce ozone pollution, we need to control emissions from many different sources, including emissions from transportation, the use of domestic energy, as well as methane emissions from agriculture," he said.
"Given the long-distance nature of ozone movement, important action is taking place at local, national, regional and global levels, which means regional cooperation is needed to solve the problem," he said.
Source:
https://phys.org/news/2017-08-million-premature-deaths-linked-ozone.html