Researchers reviewed medical records of deceased veterans and found that nine causes of death were linked to a specific type of pollution. Before this, scientists weren’t able to pinpoint specific causes of death for almost half of the 200,000 Americans who had presumably died from air pollution. In this new study, experts analyzed the likely cause of death of 4.5 million veterans. It shows that American air pollution rules could be hugely insufficient in preventing deaths. The research has been published in the journal JAMA.
Of the deaths from illnesses linked to air pollution, 99% of them occurred in people who were exposed to levels lower than what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently deems acceptable. Meaning, the “safe level” at the moment is not safe at all. Unfortunately, the current standard is set to remain under Donald Trump’s EPA, which could lead to continued air pollution-associated deaths.
The Study
- The researchers reviewed deceased veterans’ medical records, comparing them with the levels of air pollution in their zip codes.
- They specifically checked for levels of PM2.5 – the most dangerous kind of pollutant because it’s so small it can enter into your bloodstream when you breathe it in. (PM2.5 stands for inhalable particulate matter pollution that is 2.5 micrometers or lower.)
- The following nine causes of death were linked to PM2.5: chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dementia, lung cancer, and pneumonia.
- Of the nine, the following three were newly identified associations: dementia, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease.
The executive director of an organization that represents state and local air regulators, Miles Keogh, said:
We know people are harmed from exposure levels lower than the [current standards].
The question is whether the trade-offs for society are worth it. If only a few people are harmed, maybe society accepts the risk,” Keogh said. “But when a study shows 99% of death occurring at exposure levels below that threshold, that should make us look much harder at whether the threshold protects people effectively enough.
The reason they analyzed veteran’s data was that it offered a significant source of detailed records, and they were all held by the federal government. Since it is impossible (and unethical) to expose subjects to air pollution for testing, studying existing epidemiological data is the only way.
Co-Author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research at Veterans Affairs St Louis Health Care System who also directs the clinical epidemiology center at Washington University in St Louis, said:
The skeptics will always tell you this is correlation and correlation is not causation, but in environmental epidemiology, that’s really the best you could do.
Another thing this research confirmed was the inequality of how air pollution affects black Americans more than white Americans. It was more likely for black Americans to be exposed to higher levels of PM2.5. Also, when they got sick from it, they were less likely to get adequate healthcare due to poverty.
Al-Aly said:
I went into it thinking pollution is color blind … it turns out to be it’s not true. Actually, pollution itself does discriminate. For the same level of pollution, black people tend to be affected more. And on top of that, black people get exposed to more pollution than white people. It’s kind of like a double-whammy. It’s really unfair.
The moral of the study is, if the national standard for safe levels of air quality was set to lower levels of allowable pollutants, it could save countless lives. The impact of air pollution quality control on human health is the difference between life and death.
