An international evidence review has shown that years of breathing traffic pollution increases death rates in neighbourhoods, towns and cities.
The information used were gathered from many sources including a study on more than 100,000 female teachers and school administrators in California, a 40-year analysis of nearly 400,000 people in the UK census, and more than 800,000 English general practitioner records, along with analysis of the whole populations of Rome and Barcelona and studies on elderly people in Denmark and Japan.
Led by the US Health Effects Institute (HEI), the review after it had assimilated and reviewed the information, concluded that strong connections existed between traffic and road air pollution and increased death rates. A wider HEI review in 2022 reached similar conclusions for connections with lung cancer and cases of new asthma in children and adults.
The latest review corroborated last year’s World Health Organization assessment that looked at the link between air pollution from traffic and death rates including those from heart disease, stroke, respiratory problems and lung cancer by scrutinising nearly 200 research studies that looked at air pollution.
Even as the world is moving towards electrification of cars, traffic will still produce particle pollution from the wear of tyres, roads, and to a lesser extent brakes. The review panel found that few studies had addressed this.
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“Air quality regulations and improvements in vehicular emission-control technologies have contributed to decreases, however, those improvements do not fully offset the growth and increased congestion of the world’s motor vehicles.
“To date, almost all traffic pollution regulations are targeting tailpipe emissions. Vehicles also pollute by resuspending road dust, abrading road surfaces, and wearing brakes and tyres, which leads to emissions of metals such as iron and copper,” Dr Hanna Boogaard, who led the review was quoted as saying.
Earlier this week, a report from Imperial College London highlighted that air pollution damages people’s health from before birth and into old age. Evidence in the report shows current levels of air pollution will be affecting everyone in London, including those living in the least polluted suburbs, and especially those with pre-existing vulnerabilities.
Study was approved from the Guardian.
