Air pollution causes nine million additional deaths per year, according to a recent study by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP). The study found that polluted air, containing heavy metals such as lead and mercury, is one of the biggest environmental problems facing people today. The main causes of these deaths have shifted from household air pollution, water pollution, and inadequate sanitation to industrial, agricultural, and transportation-related air pollution. The majority of these deaths (90%) occur in low- and middle-income countries with inadequate regulations for air quality. India is particularly affected, with many people living in slums with contaminated air and water.
In the European Union (EU), however, environmental pollution is a relatively small problem. The situation has improved in recent years due to strict regulations on air quality. The EU has fewer deaths from environmental pollution, especially from lead and mercury, and if there are deaths, they are mainly due to outdoor air pollution. However, this positive development is due to the fact that many particularly problematic industries have moved to poorer countries with little environmental regulation. Closing an aluminum factory on the North Sea and reopening it in Asia, for example, shifts the associated pollution to the local population, but the products are still used by Europeans.
According to Stephan Böse-O’Reilly, head of the Global Environmental Medicine and Climate Change working group at the LMU Clinic, air pollution is correlated with climate change because air pollutant emissions occur where there is also a lot of CO2 emissions. Improving the CO2 situation would automatically reduce environmental pollution.
