「大気汚染パンデミック」に警鐘、世界の寿命３年短縮　研究

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】「大気汚染のパンデミック」により、世界の寿命は平均して3年近く短くなっており、年間880万人が早世しているとの研究結果が3日、発表された。（写真はスモッグに包まれたパキスタン・ラホール）
　欧州心臓病学会誌「心臓血管研究」に掲載された論文によると、石油や天然ガス、石炭の燃焼で放出される分子と肺を詰まらせる粒子の有毒な混合物を除去すれば、平均余命を丸１年取り戻すことにつながるという。
　論文の主執筆者であるドイツ・マインツのマックスプランク研究所のヨス・レリフェルト氏はＡＦＰに対し、「大気汚染は喫煙よりも大きな公衆衛生上のリスク」であり、「そのリスクの大部分は、化石燃料をクリーンな再生可能エネルギーに置き換えることで回避し得る」と語った。
　論文によると、大気汚染による年間死者数を早世の他の原因と比較した場合、マラリアの１９倍、後天性免疫不全症候群（エイズ）およびエイズウイルス（ＨＩＶ）感染の９倍、アルコールの３倍に上るという。
　論文の執筆者の一人、トマス・ムンツェル氏は「われわれの研究結果は、『大気汚染パンデミック』が発生していることを示している」と指摘。
　「大気汚染も喫煙も予防可能だが、過去数十年間、特に心臓専門医の間で、喫煙よりも大気汚染に払われる注意の方がはるかに小さかった」と述べた。
　最大の影響を受けているのはアジアで、平均寿命の短縮年数は中国で４．１年、インドで３．９年、パキスタンで３．８年となっている。
　ムンツェル氏は、「早世の約３分の２が人間の活動による汚染に起因しており、主に化石燃料の使用によるものであることが示された」と話している。
　同氏は「この割合は、高所得国では８割に達する」と明かし、「世界中で年間５５０万人の死は回避できる可能性がある」という見方を示した。
　一方で研究班は、インドや中国などの新興経済国で、寿命を縮める有毒な大気に対して不寛容さが高まる兆しが見られるとしている。
　レリフェルト氏は、「大気汚染は大きな健康リスクなのだと認識することで、化石燃料の段階的廃止の意欲を高めることにつながり、地球温暖化の抑制という副次的効果もある」と述べている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/04-12:24）

A 'pandemic' of air pollution shortens lives worldwide by nearly three years on average, and causes 8.8 million premature deaths annually, scientists said Tuesday.
Eliminating the toxic cocktail of molecules and lung-clogging particles cast off by burning oil, gas and coal would restore a full year of life expectancy, they reported in the journal Cardiovascular Research.
Air pollution is a larger public health risk than tobacco smoking, lead author Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany told AFP.
Much of it can be avoided by replacing fossil fuels with clean renewable energy.
Compared to other causes of premature death, air pollution kills 19 times more people each year than malaria, nine times more than HIV/AIDS, and three times more than alcohol, the study found.
Coronary heart disease and stroke account for almost half of those deaths, with lung diseases and other non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure accounting for most of the rest.
Only six percent of mortality stemming from polluted air is due to lung cancer.
Our results show there is an 'air pollution pandemic', said senior author Thomas Munzel of the Max Planck Institute's departments of chemistry and cardiology.
Both air pollution and smoking are preventable, but over the past decades much less attention has been paid to air pollution than to smoking, especially among cardiologists.
The worst-hit region is Asia, where average lifespan is cut 4.1 years in China, 3.9 years in India, and 3.8 years in Pakistan.
In some parts of these countries, toxic air takes an even steeper toll, other research has shown.
In India's Uttar Pradesh -- home to 200 million -- small particle pollution by itself slashes life expectancy by 8.5 years, while in China's Hebei Province (population 74 million) the shortfall is nearly six years, according to the Air Quality Life Index, developed by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago.
African lives are also foreshortened by 3.1 years on average, with people in some nations -- Chad, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire -- losing 4.5 to 7.3 years.
Among wealthier nations, the Soviet Union's former satellite states have the deadliest pollution, especially in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
We show that about two-thirds of premature deaths are attributable to human-made pollution, mainly from fossil fuel use, Munzel said.
This goes up to 80 percent in high-income countries, he added.
5.5 million deaths worldwide a year are potentially avoidable.
- Impact 'significantly underestimated' -
Unavoidable excess mortality stems from natural dust storms, such as in central Asia and northern Africa, along with forest fires, though both phenomena are being amplified by manmade climate change, according to climate scientists.
The least-impacted regions of the world are the Americas, western and northern Europe, and small island states.
The figure of 8.8 million premature deaths from outdoor air pollution each year is double estimates from World Health Organization (WHO).
The impact of air pollution on cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases was significantly underestimated, Lelieveld explained, echoing a conclusion from other recent research.
Air pollution causes damage to the blood vessels through greater oxidative stress, leading to increases in blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attacks and heart failure.
The revised number for China is 2.8 million premature deaths each year, two-and-a-half times the WHO estimates.
The researchers said there are signs in India, China and other emerging economies that people are growing intolerant of life-shortening toxic air.
The realisation that air pollution is a major health risk can contribute to the willingness to phase-out fossil fuels -- with the co-benefit of reducing climate warming, Lelieveld said.
To assess the impact of air pollution on life expectancy, the researchers applied data on exposure to micro-particles (PM2.5) and ozone for the year 2015 to models that simulate how chemical processes in the atmosphere interact with natural and manmade pollutants, and data from the Global Burden of Disease.
Indoor pollution -- mainly from cookstoves fuelled by biomass or coal -- is also a major killer, but was not considered here.