Air pollution

"Bad air quality" and "Air quality" redirect here. For the obsolete medical theory, see Miasma theory. For the measurement of air pollution, see Air quality index. For the qualities of air, see Atmosphere of Earth.

Air pollution from a coking oven
2016 Environmental Performance Index – darker colors indicate lower concentrations of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, as well as better indoor air quality.
Deaths from air pollution per 100,000 inhabitants (IHME, 2019)
Part of a series on
Pollution
Air pollution from a factory
Air
Biological
Digital
Electromagnetic
Natural
Noise
Radiation
Soil
Solid waste
Space
Thermal
Visual
War
Water
Topics
Misc
Lists
Categories
Part of a series on
Weather
Temperate and polar seasons
Tropical seasons
Storms
Precipitation
Topics
Glossaries
icon Weather portal

Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances called pollutants in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials.[1] It is also the contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment either by chemical, physical, or biological agents that alters the natural features of the atmosphere.[1] There are many different types of air pollutants, such as gases (including ammonia, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and chlorofluorocarbons), particulates (both organic and inorganic) and biological molecules. Air pollution can cause diseases, allergies, and even death to humans; it can also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and crops, and may damage the natural environment (for example, climate change, ozone depletion or habitat degradation) or built environment (for example, acid rain).[2] Air pollution can be caused by both human activities[3] and natural phenomena.[4]

Air quality is closely related to the Earth's climate and ecosystems globally. Many of the contributors of air pollution are also sources of greenhouse emission i.e., burning of fossil fuel.[1]

Air pollution is a significant risk factor for a number of pollution-related diseases, including respiratory infections, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stroke, and lung cancer.[5] Growing evidence suggests that air pollution exposure may be associated with reduced IQ scores, impaired cognition,[6] increased risk for psychiatric disorders such as depression[7] and detrimental perinatal health.[8] The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular system.[9][10] Individual reactions to air pollutants depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to,[11][12] the degree of exposure, and the individual's health status and genetics.[13]

Air pollution is the largest environmental risk factor for disease and premature death[5][14] and the fourth largest risk factor overall for human health.[15] Air pollution causes the premature deaths of around 7 million people worldwide each year,[5] or a global mean loss of life expectancy (LLE) of 2.9 years,[16] and there has been no significant change in the number of deaths caused by all forms of pollution since at least 2015.[14][17][18] Outdoor air pollution attributable to fossil fuel use alone causes ~3.61 million deaths annually,[19] making it one of the top contributors to human death.[5] Anthropogenic ozone causes around 470,000 premature deaths a year and fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution around another 2.1 million.[20] The scope of the air pollution crisis is large: In 2018, WHO estimated that "9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants."[21] Although the health consequences are extensive, the way the problem is handled is considered largely haphazard[22][21][23] or neglected.[14]

The World Bank has estimated that welfare losses (premature deaths) and productivity losses (lost labour) caused by air pollution cost the world economy $5 trillion per year.[24][25][26] The costs of air pollution are generally an externality to the contemporary economic system and most human activity, although they are sometimes recovered through monitoring, legislation, and regulation.[27][28]

Many different technologies and strategies are available for reducing air pollution.[29] Although a majority of countries have air pollution laws, according to UNEP, 43 percent of countries lack a legal definition of air pollution, 31 percent lack outdoor air quality standards, 49 percent restrict their definition to outdoor pollution only, and just 31 percent have laws for tackling pollution originating from outside their borders.[30] National air quality laws have often been highly effective, notably the 1956 Clean Air Act in Britain and the US Clean Air Act, introduced in 1963.[31][32] Some of these efforts have been successful at the international level, such as the Montreal Protocol,[33] which reduced the release of harmful ozone depleting chemicals, and the 1985 Helsinki Protocol,[34] which reduced sulfur emissions,[35] while others, such as international action on climate change,[36][37][38] have been less successful.

  1. ^ a b c "Air pollution". www.who.int. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  2. ^ Manisalidis I, Stavropoulou E, Stavropoulos A, Bezirtzoglou E (2020). "Environmental and Health Impacts of Air Pollution: A Review". Frontiers in Public Health. 8: 14. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.00014. ISSN 2296-2565. PMC 7044178. PMID 32154200.
  3. ^ Howell R, Pickerill J (2016). "The Environment and Environmentalism". In Daniels P, Bradshaw M, Shaw D, Sidaway J, Hall T (eds.). An Introduction To Human Geography (5th ed.). Pearson. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-292-12939-6.
  4. ^ Dimitriou A, Christidou V (26 September 2011), Khallaf M (ed.), "Causes and Consequences of Air Pollution and Environmental Injustice as Critical Issues for Science and Environmental Education", The Impact of Air Pollution on Health, Economy, Environment and Agricultural Sources, InTech, doi:10.5772/17654, ISBN 978-953-307-528-0, retrieved 31 May 2022
  5. ^ a b c d "7 million premature deaths annually linked to air pollution". WHO. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  6. ^ Allen JL, Klocke C, Morris-Schaffer K, Conrad K, Sobolewski M, Cory-Slechta DA (June 2017). "Cognitive Effects of Air Pollution Exposures and Potential Mechanistic Underpinnings". Current Environmental Health Reports. 4 (2): 180–191. Bibcode:2017CEHR....4..180A. doi:10.1007/s40572-017-0134-3. ISSN 2196-5412. PMC 5499513. PMID 28435996.
  7. ^ Newbury JB, Stewart R, Fisher HL, Beevers S, Dajnak D, Broadbent M, et al. (2021). "Association between air pollution exposure and mental health service use among individuals with first presentations of psychotic and mood disorders: retrospective cohort study". The British Journal of Psychiatry. 219 (6) (published 19 August 2021): 678–685. doi:10.1192/bjp.2021.119. ISSN 0007-1250. PMC 8636613. PMID 35048872.
  8. ^ Ghosh R, Causey K, Burkart K, Wozniak S, Cohen A, Brauer M (28 September 2021). "Ambient and household PM2.5 pollution and adverse perinatal outcomes: A meta-regression and analysis of attributable global burden for 204 countries and territories". PLOS Medicine. 18 (9): e1003718. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003718. ISSN 1549-1676. PMC 8478226. PMID 34582444.
  9. ^ Dominski FH, Lorenzetti Branco JH, Buonanno G, Stabile L, Gameiro da Silva M, Andrade A (October 2021). "Effects of air pollution on health: A mapping review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses". Environmental Research. 201: 111487. Bibcode:2021ER....20111487D. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.111487. ISSN 0013-9351. PMID 34116013.
  10. ^ Lee KK, Bing R, Kiang J, Bashir S, Spath N, Stelzle D, et al. (November 2020). "Adverse health effects associated with household air pollution: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and burden estimation study". The Lancet Global Health. 8 (11): e1427–e1434. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30343-0. ISSN 2214-109X. PMC 7564377. PMID 33069303.
  11. ^ Stanek LW, Brown JS, Stanek J, Gift J, Costa DL (2011). "Air Pollution Toxicology—A Brief Review of the Role of the Science in Shaping the Current Understanding of Air Pollution Health Risks". Toxicological Sciences. 120: S8–S27. doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfq367. PMID 21147959. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  12. ^ Majumder N, Kodali V, Velayutham M, Goldsmith T, Amedro J, Khramtsov VV, et al. (2022). "Aerosol physicochemical determinants of carbon black and ozone inhalation co-exposure induced pulmonary toxicity". Toxicological Sciences. 191 (1): 61–78. doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfac113. PMC 9887725. PMID 36303316.
  13. ^ Daniel A. Vallero (2014). Fundamentals of Air Pollution. Academic Press. pp. 43, 122, 215. ISBN 978-0-12-404602-3.
  14. ^ a b c Fuller R, Landrigan PJ, Balakrishnan K, Bathan G, Bose-O'Reilly S, Brauer M, et al. (June 2022). "Pollution and health: a progress update". The Lancet Planetary Health. 6 (6): e535–e547. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0. PMID 35594895. S2CID 248905224.
  15. ^ Juginović A, Vuković M, Aranza I, Biloš V (18 November 2021). "Health impacts of air pollution exposure from 1990 to 2019 in 43 European countries". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 22516. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1122516J. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-01802-5. eISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8602675. PMID 34795349.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference 10.1093/cvr/cvaa025 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Energy and Air Pollution" (PDF). Iea.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Study Links 6.5 Million Deaths Each Year to Air Pollution". The New York Times. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  19. ^ Lelieveld J, Klingmüller K, Pozzer A, Burnett RT, Haines A, Ramanathan V (25 March 2019). "Effects of fossil fuel and total anthropogenic emission removal on public health and climate". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (15): 7192–7197. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.7192L. doi:10.1073/pnas.1819989116. PMC 6462052. PMID 30910976. S2CID 85515425.
  20. ^ Silva RA, West JJ, Zhang Y, Anenberg SC, Lamarque JF, Shindell DT, et al. (2013). "Global premature mortality due to anthropogenic outdoor air pollution and the contribution of past climate change". Environmental Research Letters. 8 (3): 034005. Bibcode:2013ERL.....8c4005S. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034005.
  21. ^ a b "9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air, but more countries are taking action". World Health Organization. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Cheap air pollution monitors help plot your walk". European Investment Bank. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  23. ^ "Assessing the risks to health from air pollution". www.eea.europa.eu. European Environment Agency. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference documents.worldbank.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference commondreams.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fortune2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Batool R, Zaman K, Khurshid MA, Sheikh SM, Aamir A, Shoukry AM, et al. (October 2019). "Economics of death and dying: a critical evaluation of environmental damages and healthcare reforms across the globe". Environmental Science and Pollution Research International. 26 (29): 29799–29809. Bibcode:2019ESPR...2629799B. doi:10.1007/s11356-019-06159-x. ISSN 1614-7499. PMID 31407261. S2CID 199528114.
  28. ^ Bherwani H, Nair M, Musugu K, Gautam S, Gupta A, Kapley A, et al. (10 June 2020). "Valuation of air pollution externalities: comparative assessment of economic damage and emission reduction under COVID-19 lockdown". Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health. 13 (6): 683–694. Bibcode:2020AQAH...13..683B. doi:10.1007/s11869-020-00845-3. ISSN 1873-9318. PMC 7286556. PMID 32837611.
  29. ^ Boubel R, Vallero D, Fox D, Turner B, Stern A (2013). Fundamentals of Air Pollution (Third ed.). Elsevier. pp. 447–522. ISBN 9780080507071. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  30. ^ Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme. 2021. ISBN 978-92-807-3872-8. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  31. ^ Brimblecombe P (2006). "The clean air act after 50 years". Weather. 61 (11): 311–314. Bibcode:2006Wthr...61..311B. doi:10.1256/wea.127.06. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  32. ^ "Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People's Health". US Environmental Protection Agency. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  33. ^ Environment UN (29 October 2018). "About Montreal Protocol". Ozonaction. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  34. ^ "The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer". United States Department of State. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  35. ^ "Protocol On Further Reduction Of Sulphur Emissions To The Convention On Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution | International Environmental Agreements (IEA) Database Project". iea.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  36. ^ Nations U. "ClimateChange". United Nations. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  37. ^ "Climate change". www.who.int. World Health Organization. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  38. ^ "Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 7 June 2022.