Cleaner Air Equals Longer Life

[IDemo]

Study shows drops in fine-particle pollution correlate with increases in life expectancy

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A new study shows there is a direct relationship between the level of fine-particle pollutants in the air people breathe and life expectancy in cities across the United States.

Reducing the average level of fine-particle pollutants -- the most damaging kind -- by 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air adds about seven months of life expectancy, according to the study of 51 metropolitan areas from Portland, Wash., to Tampa Bay, Fla.

The research, reported in the Jan. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine differs in one significant way from previous studies showing a link between fine-particle pollution and mortality, explained study author C. Arden Pope III, a professor of economics at Brigham Young University.

"They were either daily-time series, in which you follow people from day to day, or studies in which you enroll a cohort of individuals, follow them up, then see when they die and what they die of," Pope said. "From all of those studies, the evidence is fairly clear that fine-particle pollution increases the risk of dying."

snip-- One expert described the finding as a "finger in the eye" of former President George W. Bush.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009...

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. Now there's a real cost to owning a cat

And if you own more, well, you're just hammering nails into your coffin.