杏吧原创

The number of early deaths in the UK linked to breathing tiny particles of soot has more than halved in four decades because of action to cut air pollution, but researchers are warning they still pose a substantial burden on public health.

The public鈥檚 exposure to major air pollutants declined significantly between 1970 and 2010, resulting in a big decrease in health impacts.

The share of all premature deaths attributable to particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are聽linked to heart and lung issues,聽more than halved from 12 per cent in 1970 to 5 per cent in 2010. Early deaths pinned on nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas emitted by diesel cars, fell from 5 per cent to 3 per cent.

The research was conducted in a way that drew a line directly between the health benefits and regulations from the UK, European Union and United Nations.

鈥淭he message is air quality policies work,鈥� says Sotiris Vardoulakis, one of the study authors, at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, a research group. But 5 per cent of deaths from PM2.5 alone is still a 鈥渧ery substantial burden on public health and we need to do something about it鈥�, he says.

The long-term impact of air pollution on health is usually tracked by pollution monitoring stations. But that monitoring only goes back so far, with robust data for some pollutants not available until as late as the 1990s. Year to year changes in the weather can also impact exposure to pollution.

The team took an unusual approach. They looked at historical data for human-made emissions of air pollutants from 1970 to 2010 and then modelled concentrations across the country of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and PM2.5 at ten year intervals. Finally, they calculated the health impact of that exposure, working on the same basis as a government committee .

The researchers also corrected for natural variation from the weather by using a fixed year of weather data for all the modelling. That means the changes are solely a result of changes in emissions, which are driven by policies. The two most effective policies were the EURO standards for cars which reduced NO2 and PM2.5 emissions, and directives designed to tackle acid rain, which cut sulphur dioxide emission from coal power stations.

It鈥檚 not all good news. There have been 鈥渧ery few regulations鈥� to tackle agriculture, so emissions of ammonia 鈥� which can lead to PM2.5 pollution 鈥� have been flat. , and the UK government has been .

The team says the 鈥渓ow hanging fruit鈥� of policies has been taken, and big technological and behavioural changes are now needed, such as electric vehicles and reducing our car dependency.

Journal reference: Environmental Research Letters,