Oxygen news: Harm done by air pollution 'previously underestimated'
Air pollution does more harm than previously understood, both to health and the public purse, it has been claimed, which could encourage more people to use portable oxygen masks in smoggy areas.
Resource economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Sylvia Brandt conducted a study with other scientists from California and Switzerland which showed the cost of an unclean atmosphere is much higher than thought.
"Traditional risk assessment methods for air pollution have underestimated both the overall burden of asthma and the cost of the disease associated with air pollution," she stated.
"Our findings suggest the cost has been substantially underestimated and steps must be taken to reduce the burden of traffic-related pollution," the expert added.
Her study, which was published in the European Respiratory Journal, was conducted on Long Beach and Riverside in California and found factoring the cost of people developing asthma into the damage done by unclean air significantly increases the overall price.
Typically, having asthma in Riverside is equivalent to an expense of $4,063 (£2,590.20) per year, while in Long Beach this falls to $3,819.
These figures include knock-on effects of asthma like missed school and parents having to take time off work, so the total additional costs created by asthma developed because of air pollution from traffic is $18 million a year.
Indeed, a single case of bronchitic symptoms like having a cough, congestion and phlegm for three consecutive months can cost up to $972 in Riverside and $915 in Long Beach.
For the study, the team used data from healthcare visits in the areas focused on but they feel their methods will be applicable to other urban environments.
Last month, the UK government was taken to court by environmental lawyers ClientEarth for failing to meet European Union targets to reduce pollution in the country, according to publication the Lawyer.
Posted by Stewart Elliott
26/01/2012 17:04:59
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