Air pollution kills 3.3 million worldwide

Scientists believe that 1 million people can be saved from early death every year if air pollution is reduced, while 3.54 million people can be saved if they are protected against indoor exposure to pollutants.

“Agricultural emissions are becoming increasingly important but are not regulated”, said Allen Robinson, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who was not a part of the study.

In the central US , the majority of air pollution deaths are caused by power plants, while the bulk of deaths from air pollution on the West Coast can be attributed to traffic emissions.

The study also showed the countries that have the most air pollution related deaths.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, used health statistics and computer models.

The study, citing a report of The Associated Press, suggested that air pollution and global warming will continue to pose a major headache for the world.

With almost 1.4 million deaths a year, China has the most air pollution deaths in the world, followed by India with 645,000 and Pakistan with 110,000. Roughly three quarters of air pollution related deaths were caused by heart attacks and strokes, according the head author Jos Lilieveld at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany.

The northeastern USA , across all of Europe, Japan, Russian Federation and South Korea, the No. 1 cause of smog and soot deaths is agriculture, according to this new study.

The high levels of ammonia that lift to the sky due to animal feces and fertilizers combine with sulfates from power plants and auto exhausts that form soot particles and then further pollute the air.

Lelieveld cited the example of London, where the traffic pollution is converted into soot, “then it is mixed with ammonia and transported downwind to the next city”.

Both had assumed that power plants and traffic would be the lead factors in air pollution.

“We were very surprised, but in the end it makes sense”, Lelieveld said.

Reducing air pollution is not only good for public health, it’s good for the climate too.

“Our goal now is to ensure that the affected cars are brought into compliance, to dig more deeply into the extent and implications of Volkswagen’s efforts to cheat on clean air rules, and to take appropriate further action”, said Air Resources board exec officer Richard Corey.

Natural air pollution, mostly dust in arid regions, caused nearly a fifth of global air pollution deaths. “This deadly combination creates soot particles capable of traveling in whatever direction the wind goes”, Lelieveld said.