Every year 9 million people lose their lives due to pollution

The pollution emergency is always there: a pandemic within a pandemic Already rarely at the center of public debate, interest in him has waned further due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But beyond the infectious one, the pollution emergency is always there. A pandemic within a pandemic. In fact, nine million people lose their lives every year due to exposure to air made unhealthy by the toxic substances released by man. So, at least, from 2015 onwards. This is confirmed

Already rarely at the center of public debate, interest in him has waned further due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But beyond the infectious one, the pollution emergency is always there.

A pandemic within a pandemic.

In fact, nine million people lose their lives every year due to exposure to air made unhealthy by the toxic substances released by man.

So, at least, from 2015 onwards.

This is confirmed by an analysis published by the Pollution and Health Commission set up by the magazine "The Lancet", which confirms what has already been confirmed by the World Health Organization.

In fact, 1 in 6 deaths among those that occur on our planet is a direct consequence of a disease caused by pollution: first of all of the air, but also of water and soil.

The greatest number of victims due to air pollution

The figure, significant in numerical terms, has actually been stable since 2015. But not for this, despite slight improvements, encouraging.

"The impact of pollution on health remains enormous, while efforts to tackle it are still too limited," warns Richard Fuller, researcher with the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution in Geneva and first signing the publication.

Starting from data from the Global Burden of Disease, a research program involving 145 countries to evaluate the impact of risk factors and diseases on disability and death rates, the work consisted of an update of the data released last time in 2019. In terms of quantity, in fact it is as if nothing has changed.

Of the nearly nine million deaths caused by pollution, most (nearly 6,

7 million) was determined by the atmospheric one.

Water contamination was instead recognized as responsible for 1.36 million deaths, followed by lead poisoning (900,000) and occupational exposure to other toxic substances (870,000 victims).

Deaths on the rise in industrialized countries

On a qualitative level, the researchers recorded an increase in the number of victims in Western states.

A fact that travels hand in hand with industrialization.

And therefore with the increased use of toxic substances and harmful emissions.

On the contrary, the number of deaths associated with conditions of absolute poverty is decreasing: such as those due to water pollution and domestic environments, recorded above all in countries with resources close to zero.

This aspect is only partially encouraging, however, since the social and economic impact of deaths caused by pollution continues to be high above all in low- and middle-income countries: where therapeutic possibilities are often lower than in the rest of the world.

On balance, according to experts,

air pollution reduces life expectancy every year more than do, individually, other frequent causes of death: from wars to cardiovascular diseases, from smoking to AIDS.

With an average "cut" to the life expectancy of three years.

Diseases caused by pollution

Considering that several pollutants are dissolved in the air, it is difficult to demonstrate a direct correlation between exposure to one of these and the risk of developing a disease.

The evidence, in this case, almost always derives from epidemiological studies that have evaluated the incidence of certain conditions in areas known to be polluted.

It was thus discovered that an increase in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (acute and chronic) is among the most certain effects of polluted air.

Over time, exposure to fine particles was linked to the increased occurrence of strokes, heart attacks, hypertension, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism.

Smog also appears to affect the development of atherosclerosis.

To these we must add - although rarely fatal - infections, allergies,

chronic bronchitis and asthma.

Pollution also seems to play a role in the mechanisms underlying some rare respiratory diseases: such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

The list of diseases caused by pollution also includes tumors.

At the top of the list of organs most at risk are the lungs.

Not the only ones, however, if we consider that an association also exists between air pollution and the onset of breast cancer in menopausal women.