"Pollution Kills More People Than Anything Else" - James Conca
The most comprehensive report to date on the health effects of environmental pollution shows that filthy air, contaminated water and other polluted parts of our environment kill more people worldwide each year than almost everything else combined – smoking, hunger, natural disasters, war, murder, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. According to the study, nine million people every year, one in every six premature deaths, are caused by diseases from toxic exposures in the environment. That’s 20 times more than all wars. Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, professor of environmental medicine and public health, and pediatrics and dean for global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the lead author of the report, noted, “There’s been a lot of studies on pollution, but it’s never received the resources or level of attention as, say, AIDS or climate change.”
- Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, Professor, Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Pediatrics, Dean for Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai