Pollution a Big Cause of Death
August 14th, 2007 by Sarah WhiteA researcher at Cornell University says that air, water, and soil pollution can be blamed for 40 percent of deaths worldwide.
Pollution is a big contributor to disease in people, David Pimentel says, and the increasing world population makes disease even worse. Pimentel and colleagues studied 120 published reports on pollution, malnutrition, population growth and other factors for their report, published online in the journal Human Ecology.
They found that about 57 percent of the world’s population is malnourished, compared to just 20 percent in 1950. Half the world’s people live in crowded urban areas, and more than a billion lack safe drinking water. Waterborne illnesses account for 80 percent of all infectious diseases.
More than three million people die each year from air pollution, and microbes in water and soil are becoming more resistant to drugs.
As we in the more developed world think about living healthier lives, its a good idea to stop every now and then and get a little perspective on what healthy living really means.
Sarah White wrote this on August 14th, 2007 and filed it under Healthy Living |
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Fascinating post on pollution and health issues. With so many people living in high density areas we are likely to continue to see those stats increase.
Great post, thanks for sharing………Di