Smoke from burning forests and grasslands kills on average 339,000 people a year world-wide, an international research team said Sunday in the first systematic global health study of air pollution from wildfires.
Every year, accidental and deliberate wildfires burn an area that, taken together, is larger than India. The dense plumes of fine particles and compounds released in the complex chemistry of combustion typically stay aloft for weeks and can travel hundreds of miles downwind. Smoke from fires in Central Siberia during 2003, for example, caused air pollution in the U.S.
To estimate the public health consequences, scientists led by fire researcher Fay Johnston from the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, studied the impact of the fine particulate matter released during such blazes between 1997 and 2006, using satellite data, computer models of wind patterns and mortality tables developed by the World Health Organization.
“I personally was surprised that the estimate of deaths was so high,” said Dr. Johnston, who presented the findings at a symposium Sunday during a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement for Science in Vancouver. The findings were also published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were hit hardest by the ill effects of smoke from wildfires and deliberate burning for clearing land, the research team said.
In Africa, about 157,000 people died annually as a consequence of smoke pollution, the scientists said. In Southeast Asia, 110,000 on average were killed every year by medical conditions related to inhalation of wildfire smoke.
By comparison, public health experts estimate that urban air pollution generally kills about 800,000 people every year, and the indoor fumes from household fuels cause about 1.6 million deaths annually.
“By comparison, public health experts estimate that urban air pollution generally kills about 800,000 people every year, and the indoor fumes from household fuels cause about 1.6 million deaths annually.”
There you have it folks. Outdoor air quality is 2X better than indoor air quality. If you want better air. GO OUTSIDE.
Why is it the feds are purifying our outside air, which is much more healthy than IAQ? If the EPA claims they are saving millions of lives, then we need an IAPA to help us twice that.
Know one mentions the outdoor effects of mercury which are zero. EPA is trying to drive us to stay inside where our homes are littered with mercury-laden compact flourescent lightbulbs that may kill us. Could the EPA be part of the conspiracy of Agenda 21 to reduce the country’s population?