|
|
|
|
National Tree Day Planet Ark Home
|
|
|
||
|
US study indicts particulate air pollution |
||
|
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version
|
||
| USA: March 7, 2002 | ||
|
CHICAGO - Long-term exposure to the kind of air pollution common in many metropolitan areas increases the risk of death from lung cancer and other heart-lung diseases, according to a study published this week.
|
||
|
The report was based on 16 years of data from an on-going U.S. study in which thousands of people are participating. It assessed the impact of exposure to fine particulates - particles small enough to penetrate the lungs - from automobile exhaust and industry. "The findings of this study provide the strongest evidence to date that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution common to many metropolitan areas is an important risk factor for cardiopulmonary mortality," researchers from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, said. The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, included heart attack, stroke, asthma, pneumonia, and such things as emphysema and chronic bronchitis under the category of cardiopulmonary diseases. "Elevated fine particulate air pollution exposures were associated with significant increases in lung cancer mortality," the researchers added. They said previous studies have been less conclusive about the long-term effects of fine particulate air pollution. The authors said they based their findings on an analysis of data collected by the American Cancer Society on approximately 1.2 million U.S. adults beginning in 1982.
|
||
|
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
|
||
|
