I Can Feel It Cleaning in the Air Tonight
Clean up air and death rate drops, study finds
Ah, science. It never fails to dazzle and delight. Consider this wildly counterintuitive result: When air pollution falls in a city, fewer people in that city die. Jump back! In a new study, researchers tracked particulate pollution concentrations in six U.S. metropolitan areas from 1974 through 1998, along with the health of 8,096 residents. Each decrease of 1 microgram of soot per cubic meter of air lowered mortality rates from lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory illness by 3 percent — meaning longer lives for 75,000 people a year. Lead author Francine Laden says the findings bolster scientific recommendations to toughen current air-quality standards: “the message here is that if you continue to decrease [pollution levels], you will save more lives.”