IAN SAMPLE, GUARDIAN - Air pollution in major cities may be more
damaging to health than the radiation exposure suffered by survivors of
the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, according to a report. The study suggests
high levels of urban air pollution cut short life expectancy more than
the radiation exposure of emergency workers who were sent into the
19-mile exclusion zone around the site straight after the accident.
Two explosions at the Chernobyl reactor killed three people immediately
and more than 30 died from acute radiation poisoning, but the
radioactive plume released from the reactor spread over most of Europe
and is estimated to have caused up to 16,000 deaths.
Article continues The latest study follows a report last month from the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution which said air pollution was
responsible for 24,000 premature deaths in Britain every year. . .
Other findings this year showed that women living in areas of high air
pollution were at greater risk of heart disease and death, while
children living within 500m of motorways suffered more permanent lung
damage and lower life expectancy, probably because of their greater
exposure to pollutants in vehicle fumes.
Pollution in central London increases mortality due to heart and lung
disease by 2.8% compared with Inverness, Britain's least polluted city,
while living with a smoker increases mortality by 1.7%, the study found.
In the journal BMC Public Health, Dr Smith writes: "Populations still
living unofficially in the abandoned lands around Chernobyl may actually
have a lower health risk from radiation than they would have if they
were exposed to air pollution in a large city, such as nearby Kiev."
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2048662,00.html
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damaging to health than the radiation exposure suffered by survivors of
the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, according to a report. The study suggests
high levels of urban air pollution cut short life expectancy more than
the radiation exposure of emergency workers who were sent into the
19-mile exclusion zone around the site straight after the accident.
Two explosions at the Chernobyl reactor killed three people immediately
and more than 30 died from acute radiation poisoning, but the
radioactive plume released from the reactor spread over most of Europe
and is estimated to have caused up to 16,000 deaths.
Article continues The latest study follows a report last month from the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution which said air pollution was
responsible for 24,000 premature deaths in Britain every year. . .
Other findings this year showed that women living in areas of high air
pollution were at greater risk of heart disease and death, while
children living within 500m of motorways suffered more permanent lung
damage and lower life expectancy, probably because of their greater
exposure to pollutants in vehicle fumes.
Pollution in central London increases mortality due to heart and lung
disease by 2.8% compared with Inverness, Britain's least polluted city,
while living with a smoker increases mortality by 1.7%, the study found.
In the journal BMC Public Health, Dr Smith writes: "Populations still
living unofficially in the abandoned lands around Chernobyl may actually
have a lower health risk from radiation than they would have if they
were exposed to air pollution in a large city, such as nearby Kiev."
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2048662,00.html
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