Cleaner Air & Less Pollution Can Add 5 Months of Average Life Span

A significant decrease in the amount of air pollution in the last 20 years has added approximately 5 months of life for the average American, according to a new study published by the New England Journal of Medicine (January 18th Weekly edition). The study suggests that the average lifespan of Americans increased by about 3 years between 1978 and 2001, out of which 5 months is contributed by cleaner air and less pollution. The study was conducted by Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham Young University and sponsored by the federal government. Two American cities where air pollution is an ongoing problem include Los Angeles and New York city, where the # of cars emitting gas is huge. Also, other parts of the United States that emit large air pollution include those cities that house oil refineries that release contaminants such as benzene, mercury, sulfuric acid and more. The risk that these oil refineries pose include that if they explode or catch a fire, they will emit large amounts of Asbestos fibers in to the air and can be inhaled by workers nearby. Dr. Joel Kaufman, professor of Environmental Health at the University of Washington quotes, "Our efforts as a country to control air pollution have been well worth the expense."
 

The Clean Air Act was passed by Congress in the 1970s to protect Americans from bad effects to the air, environment, soil and land. The Clean Air Act requires that if Asbestos is present in a public building or structure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must be notified before any abatement officers come to remove asbestos. Furthermore, the EPA requires through air quality tests be conducted on any buildings containing Asbestos. This is done so as to ensure Abestos particles do not become airborne and are not released in to the air. If this happens, there is a risk nearby workers and general public will inhale it, and develop Asbestos related diseases. Daniel Krewski, professor of Pollution research at the University of Ottawa quotes, "This finding provides direct confirmation of the population health benefits of mitigating air pollution."

Lead author of the study, C. Arden Pope III (Image on the right) who is an Epidemiologist at Brigham Young University quotes, "We saw that communities that had larger reductions in air pollution on average had larger increases in life expectancies." This study was pioneered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The mission of the study was to provide "critical information“ to American citizens about their environment. The government announced last year that the average life expectancy in America has surpassed the 78 years level, which is an important landmark.

Co-author of the study, Douglas Dockery, chair of the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard School of Public Health quotes, "There is an important positive message here that the efforts to reduce particulate air pollution concentrations in the United States over the past 20 years have led to substantial and measurable improvements in life expectancy."