“Pollution has been steadily growing, as has its health impact, so that it is now the leading cause of death. And, of course, it also damages economies, slowing down development in countries that sorely need to grow.” – Dr. Richard Fuller, Chief Executive Officer of Pure Earth/Blacksmith Institute
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Nineteen years ago, Republic Act No. 8749 – also known as Clean Air Act of 1999 – was enacted.
“The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature,” the Act stated.
The Philippines observed November as National Clean Air Month.
“Pollution is the world’s fourth largest threat to human health,” said the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Some four decades ago, a World Bank country director to the Philippines stated: “Air pollution is causing serious health problems and lower productivity, severely impacting the Filipinos’ quality of life.”
The most common forms of air pollutants are suspended particulate matter (SPM), carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons (which include benzene, xylene, and ethylene dibromide), sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and residues of the highly toxic tetraethyl lead, a substance added to gasoline to enhance its octane value or “burning quality.”
A sweeping global study published in peer-reviewed The Lancet medical journal blames pollution (air, water and soil) for an estimated 9 million premature deaths in 2015. More than 40 researchers from all over the world worked on the study funded by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.
The causes of deaths vary – cancer, lung disease, and heart disease – but the report linked these deaths to pollution, “drawing upon previous studies that show how pollution is tied to a wider range of diseases than previously thought,” wrote Susan Brink, who has written a news based on the released report.
“The nine million figure adds up to 16% of all deaths worldwide, killing three times more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined,” Brink wrote of the commissioned report based from combined data from the World Health Organization and other sources to come up with the findings. “Pollution is responsible for 15 times more deaths than wars and other forms of violence.”
In 2014, multi-awarded journalist and author Stephen Leahy has already debugged that disease is the biggest killer, particularly in the developing world. It’s pollution, he pointed out, as it snatches the lives of more than 8.4 million people each year. “However, pollution receives a fraction of the interest from the global community,” the Canadian journalist lamented.
For his news report, his source of information was Dr. Richard Fuller, president of the Pure Earth/Blacksmith Institute. “Pollution is sometimes called the invisible killer… its impact is difficult to track because health statistics measure disease, not pollution,” he said adding that “toxic sites along with air and water pollution impose a tremendous burden on the health systems of developing countries.”
The Lancet-published report said every country in the world is affected, whether industrialized or developing. But 92% of the reported deaths are from low- and middle-income countries.
“Pollution in rapidly developing countries is just getting worse and worse and worse. And it isn’t getting attention it deserves. It needed to be rigorously studied,” wrote Dr. Philip Landrigan, pediatrician and professor of environmental medicine and global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He, together with Dr. Fuller, conducted the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health.
As pollution is described as an “invisible killer,” it is often misrepresented as a minor health issue, according to Dr. Fuller. Dr. Landrigan thinks so, too. “Pollution is a massive problem that people aren’t seeing because they’re looking at scattered bits of it,” he said.
In the new report, it was stated that “the health-related costs of pollution are hidden in hospital budgets.” Brink, who authored The Fourth Trimester, asked what “hidden costs” means.
Lead author Dr. Landrigan replied: “Say a person comes into the hospital with cardiac arythmia. Nobody makes the connection that it happened a day when air pollution was extremely high. Rates of heart disease and stroke are kicked up by air pollution.”
The American Heart Association reported that inhaled nanoparticles of pollution can play a role in rupturing plaque build-up in arteries, causing a heart attack or stroke.
But pollution is more than just a health issue. “What people don’t realize is that pollution does damage to economies,” Dr. Fuller said. “People who are sick or dead cannot contribute to the economy. They need to be looked after.”
“The global health burden from pollution is astonishing, and mainly affects women and children,” Dr. Fuller told Inter Press Service. “The world community needs to wake up to this fact.”
