Ozone Pollution Causes Premature Death In Humans

"Smoggy ozone pollution not only sickens, but long-term exposure can be deadly, according to Canadian and American researchers who conducted a study of the chronic impact of ozone on human health.

"This is the first time we've been able to connect chronic exposure to ozone — one of the most widespread pollutants in the world — with the risk of death, arguably the most important outcome in health impact studies used to justify air quality regulations," said the study's lead author Michael Jerrett, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

The 23-year study, which appears in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, analyzed the risk of death from two common parts of air pollution — ozone and fine particulate matter —for 450,000 people living in smoggy California to the pristine Midwest.

The researchers found that for every 10 parts-per-billion or ppb increase in ozone level, there was a four per cent increase in risk of death from respiratory causes, mainly pneumonia and chronic pulmonary obstructive pulmonary disease.

A four per cent increase translates into thousands of excess deaths each year, Jerrett said."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: CBC News