I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper for years, but now that I am living with Larry’s family, there’s a local newspaper on the table every morning. On Saturday morning I happened to glance down at the headline
DEADLIER THAN VIOLENCE
“They must be talking about toxics,” I thought. And I was right.
The story began:
Environmental pollution — from filthy air to contaminated water — is killing more people every year than all war and violence in the world. More than smoking, hunger or natural disasters. More than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
And it went on to say:
One out of every six premature deaths in the world in 2015 — about 9 million — could be attributed to disease from toxic exposure…Experts say the 9 million premature deaths the study found was just a partial estimate, and the number of people killed by pollution is undoubtedly higher and will be quantified once more research is done and new methods of assessing harmful impacts are developed.
The financial cost from pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is equally massive, costing some $4.6 trillion in annual losses — or about 6.2 percent of the global economy.
This report is the first attempt to pull together data on disease and death caused by all forms of pollution combined.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Study: Pollution kills 9 million a year, costs $4.6 trillion
