{"@context":"http://schema.org/","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Air pollution","description":"Videographic on air pollution. A UN environment meeting opened in Nairobi Monday under a dark cloud cast by the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people, including at least 22 United Nations staff, many heading for the annual event.
"This means that air pollution causes more extra deaths a year than tobacco smoking, which the World Health Organization estimates was responsible for an extra 7.2 million deaths in 2015," said senior author Thomas Munzel, a professor at the University Medical Centre Mainz in Germany.Small and larger particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide , sulphur dioxide and ozone have likewise been linked to drops in cognitive performance, labour productivity and educational outcomes.
By far, most deaths were attributed to microscopic particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, known as PM2.5."New data has become available for fine particulate matter indicating that the hazardous health impact of PM2.5 are much larger than assumed previously," said Lelieveld.The WHO has recommended that the density in the air of these dangerous microscopic particles should not exceed, on average, 10 microgrammes per cubic metre per year.
"We used to speak primarily about carcinogenic effects, or immediate impacts on the respiratory system," he told AFP."But now we understand the link with cardio issues, brain related issues, and some reproductive issues." "This is explained by the combination of poor air quality and dense population, which leads to exposure that is among the highest in the world," said lead author Jos Lelieveld, a researcher at the Max-Plank Institute for Chemistry, also in Mainz.