SWBP: Air Pollution

SWBP is a 2007 book I'm reading, edited by Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center; Chapter 5: Air Pollution, is authored/addressed by Guy Hutton of DSI (Development Solutions International). He is my favorite author of the book so far, I think, in directness of style. Summary and Commentary:

Cough. Who farted.

Air pollution is largely (mostly?) due to human activity, from combustion of fuels. Specifically, the combustion of fuels for transportation, energy generation, energy-intensive industrial operations, resource extraction and processing industries, and domestic cooking and heating, among others. Tobacco smoke is another one, which I have previously written about (see Barack Smokes, why he shouldn't).

The problem with Air Pollution, indoor and outdoor, is a) indoor cooking fires with solid/biomass fuel kill 1.5 million people every year (the majority in children under 5), and b) outdoor pollution, particularly in Asia, may result in about half that number of deaths. In addition to human and animal health, buildings and materials, crops, and visibility are affected. Aside from the deaths, there are countless million more episodes of illness. Cough.

I imagine it's like smoking, in a way, in that it shortens life expectancy, which I assume is what they factor into the above mortality statistics. I wonder how they do that. Because, obviously, outdoor air pollution isn't like a bullet to the brain. But it can be just as deadly. Mr. Hutton explains that scientific medical controlled trials on air pollution are inadequate and necessary. This is because there are many pollutants with different, hard to discern, health-effects.

It's been in the news lately with the Beijing Olympics.

quotes
Indoor- "The total disease burden, including morbidity, is estimated at 38.5 million Disability-Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs)." Indoor cooking fires in rural areas mainly use firewood, dung, other agricultural residues, followed by charcoal and coal/lignite. 38.5M years. Geez.

Outdoor-"According to the World Health Organization, PM concentrations in urban outdoor air from industries and vehicles may trigger some 800,000 premature deaths a year with 65% occurring in the developing countries of Asia." (Is PM parts per million?)

Forest fires, and events like Bhopal (chemicals) or Chernobyl (radioactivity) are part of the problem. Air pollution, defined, is suspended particulate matter (dust, fumes, mist, and smoke), gaseous pollutants, and odor. Indoor and outdoor pollution, combined, are estimated to cause 2.5 million deaths a year. This killer lurks and lives in the home, in the workplace, and in the urban environment. The quality of life, as well as economic consequences, make air pollution control programs highly cost-beneficial.

The benefit-cost ratio, though hard to pin down, is estimated between 0.5 (the lower Shanghai estimate) to 13.0 (the higher U.S. Federal regulations estimate). Even aside from the silly numbers (unless you're an investor), 1.visibility, 2. ecology (crop damage and wildlife effects from acid deposition), and, of course, 3.health (often acute lower respiratory infections in children and COPD -chronic obstructive pulmonary disease- in adults, among the 3 billion people who depend on solid fuels for cooking fires), make this an obvious priority.