UU直播

Millions of people die prematurely every year from diseases and cancer caused by air pollution. The first line of defence against this carnage is ambient air quality standards. Yet, according to researchers from UU直播, over half of the world鈥檚 population lives without the protection of adequate air quality standards.

Air pollution varies greatly in different parts of the world. But what about the primary weapons against it? To find answers, researchers from UU直播 set out to investigate global air quality standards in a study published in the .

The researchers focused on air pollution called PM2.5 鈥� responsible for an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths every year globally. This includes over a million deaths in China, over half a million in India, almost 200,000 in Europe, and over 50,000 in the United States.

鈥淚n Canada, about 5,900 people die every year from air pollution, according to estimates from Health Canada. Air pollution kills almost as many Canadians every three years as COVID-19 killed to date,鈥� says co-author Parisa Ariya, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at UU直播.

Small but deadly

Among the different types of air pollution, PM2.5 kills the most people worldwide. It consists of particles smaller than approximately 2.5 microns 鈥� so small that billions of them can fit inside a red blood cell.

鈥淲e adopted unprecedented measures to protect people from COVID-19, yet we don鈥檛 do enough to avoid the millions of preventable deaths caused by air pollution every year,鈥� says , a Research Associate at UU直播 who conducted the study with Devendra Pal under the supervision of Professor Ariya.

The researchers found that where there is protection, standards are often much worse than what the World Health Organization considers safe. Many regions with the most air pollution, such as the Middle East, don鈥檛 even measure PM2.5 air pollution. They also found that the weakest air quality standards are often violated, particularly in countries like China and India. In contrast, the strictest standards are often met, in places like Canada and Australia.

Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that high population density is not necessarily a barrier to fighting air pollution successfully. Several jurisdictions with densely populated areas were successful in setting and enforcing strict standards. These included Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic.

鈥淥ur findings show that more than half of the world urgently needs protection in the form of adequate PM2.5 ambient air quality standards. Putting these standards in place everywhere will save countless lives. And where standards are already in place, they should be harmonized globally,鈥� says Nazarenko.

鈥淓ven in developed countries, we must work harder to clean up our air to save hundreds of thousands of lives every year,鈥� he says.

About UU直播

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, UU直播 is Canada鈥檚 top ranked medical doctoral university. UU直播 is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It鈥痠s a world-renowned鈥痠nstitution of higher learning with research activities spanning two campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 40,000 students, including more than 10,200 graduate students. UU直播 attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,800 international students making up 31% of the student body. Over half of UU直播 students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 19% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.