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by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Pollution claimed the lives of nine million people in 2015, one in every six deaths that year, according to a report published on Friday. Almost all the deaths, 92 percent, happened in low- and middle-income countries, it said, with air pollution the main culprit, felling 6.5 million people. Almost half of the total toll came from just two countries — India and China — researchers […]
Paris, France (AFP) — The two most common chronic lung diseases claimed 3.6 million lives worldwide in 2015, according to a tally published Thursday in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. About 3.2 million people succumbed that year to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), caused mainly by smoking and pollution, while 400,000 people died from asthma. COPD is a group of lung conditions — including emphysema and bronchitis — that make it difficult to breathe. Asthma […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest freshwater lake, has extremely high pollution levels, President Vladimir Putin warned Friday while visiting the Siberian lake. Lake Baikal is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the world’s deepest lake at 1,700 meters (5,580 feet) and also the oldest at 25 million years. Tourists flock there to enjoy the unique wildlife and clear waters. Putin, while meeting officials in a room looking onto the shimmering waters […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain said Wednesday it will outlaw the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040 in a bid to cut air pollution but environmental groups said the proposals did not go far enough. Environment minister Michael Gove announced the move as part of the government’s keenly-awaited £3 billion ($3.9 billion, 3.4 billion euro) air pollution plan, which will demand that councils propose measures by March next year […]
MEULABOH, Indonesia (AFP) — Young children lie in hospital in Aceh province, Indonesia, as thick smoke caused by forest fires forces dozens of people to be treated for lung infections. Some schoolchildren were still able to go to school in Meulaboh Wednesday wearing masks but several schools suspended classes so students could stay at home. In the past week, about 35 hotspots — concentrations of fires — have destroyed 70 hectares (0.27 square miles) of forests and other […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese cities had fewer “good air” days in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year despite government efforts to curb incessant smog, according to official data. China has vowed to target coal-burning and vehicle emissions, increase investment in clean energy and punish polluters in a bid to improve the air quality of the world’s second largest economy. But the measures had yet to bear fruit in […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Human noise is polluting more than half of natural protected areas in the United States, to such an extent that it could interfere with animals’ ability to hunt and survive, researchers said Thursday. Sounds were recorded at 492 sites meant as havens for biodiversity across the country, said the report in the journal Science. Researchers found that background noise exceeded three decibels (dB) in 63 percent of protected areas, it […]
by Ouerdya AIT ABDELMALEK Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Gone are the days of London’s “pea souper” smogs, but like many European cities, the British capital is once again being choked by pollution — and has road traffic firmly in its sights. In 1952, the Great Smog suffocated London for five days, bringing the city to a standstill as soot-filled clouds descended onto the streets and into people’s lungs, leaving more than […]
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — A historic leatherworking quarter in Bangladesh once labelled among the most polluted places on earth was shut Thursday as police enforced a court ruling to protect a vital waterway. Conservationists have been fighting for years to close the century-old tannery district in the capital Dhaka, which pumps thousands of litres of toxic waste directly into the city’s most important river on a daily basis. The Supreme Court ordered last month that […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — In fresh evidence about the dangers of coal pollution, a scientist on Monday said a switch to coal-fired power in a southern United States state after a nuclear accident in 1979 led to a sharp fall in birthweight, a benchmark of health. The study looked at the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, which caused two nuclear plants in Tennessee to be shuttered and their […]
MARIANA TRENCHES, Pacific Ocean (Reuters) — A study of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana and Kermadec trenches has found man-made pollutants in the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean. Small crustaceans called amphipods, which populate the deepest recesses of the Pacific, were found to contain disturbingly large levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the organism’s fatty tissue. Voracious eaters who will eat anything that comes their way, amphipods are ideal for such research. Amphipod samples […]
KARAWANG, Indonesia (Reuters) — A new study paints an alarming picture for the future of the rice industry. Researchers found that a high level of surface ozone pollution is wreaking havoc on a stage of the rice plant’s development in China – the world’s largest producer of the staple crop. “Peaks in ozone when you have 2 or 3 really bad days of high surface ozone which is like air pollution can have huge impact […]
