LONDON (Reuters) - Air pollution could lead to more than seven months of life expectancy for children living in crowded cities, according to a British study. The research was prepared by a team from Kings College London, studying the most toxic British cities, Birmingham.
The study warns that primary school children living in Birmingham may lose about half of their expected life due to illegal levels of air pollution in the city. The study estimates that the eight-year-old may die seven months before his expected life if he is exposed to toxic air throughout his life. Researchers found that the loss of this part of life expectancy in Birmingham is worse than some of the other major cities in the UK, including Manchester.
The study examined nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in the air due to soot, two of the main causes of poor air pollution in the city's 10 constituencies, and found that air pollution had the greatest impact on age and that males were more vulnerable than females. The study found that in Erdington up to 91 deaths per year, due to air pollution, compared to up to 59 cases in Edigbaston and 57 in Hall Green.
"The results are very alarming," says the council's minister of transport and environment in the city council, Wasim Zafar. "This reflects the big dilemma of the public health crisis, which we are dealing with in Birmingham today." "There are reasons to reduce low air quality, and that's exactly why the city is taking measures like finding a clean air area," he says.
"It's awful to find that children living in the UK breathe in the air that may be short, and as a parent, you want to do everything you can for your children, but when it comes to air pollution, Feel helpless, that's why people in power have to deal with the problem. "
Research suggests that air pollution caused by nitrogen dioxide and particles suspended in the air from soot can cause 36,000 deaths a year.