Almost the entire world population is exposed to fine particles suspended in the environment (PM2.5) above the limits considered safe, indicates a global study on environmental pollution released today.
From the responsibility of Monash University, Australia, and published in the journal “Lancet Planetary Health”, the study, the first in the world on daily air pollution, showed that almost no place in the world is safe in this matter and that Only 0.001% of the world’s population is exposed to PM2.5 pollution levels below the World Health Organization (WHO) limits. Above this safe level, the WHO considers that there is a danger to health.
On the planet, according to the research conclusions, only 0.18% of the earth’s surface is exposed to PM2.5 below the safety levels recommended by the WHO.
Particulate matter is inhalable polluting particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers made up of solid particles and droplets, which enter the lungs and bloodstream, some being emitted directly and others formed when pollutants react in the atmosphere, explains the European Agency for Environment, according to which PM2. 5 is associated with illness and death caused by heart and lung disease.
According to the study, daily levels of fine particles decreased over the past two decades, up to 2019, in Europe and North America, but increased in South Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America and the Caribbean, with more than 70 % of days, globally, showing PM2.5 levels above what is considered safe.
The study authors noted that there is a lack of air pollution monitoring stations around the world, leading to a lack of data, a gap the study sought to fill. The research team, led by Yuming Guo, from the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Melbourne, used traditional observations, but also satellite detectors and statistical methods.
Based on this new approach, based on multiple meteorological and geological data, it could be concluded that despite a slight decrease in the days exposed to high PM2.5 concentrations, in 2019 more than 70% of the days had particle concentrations. fine above recommended. WHO values.
The 2021 WHO directive recommends annual average concentration limits of 5 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter), and a 24-hour average of 15 µg/m3).
In some regions of Asia (South and East) more than 90% of the days had daily concentrations above the limit and in 2019 Australia and New Zealand also recorded very high concentrations.
In global terms, between 2000 and 2019 the annual average of PM2.5 was 32.8 µg/m3, the study data indicates.
With the highest concentrations to be recorded in the regions of East Asia (50 micrograms, more than the WHO paw print), but also in South Asia or North Africa, the lowest concentrations are in the regions of Oceania and of South America.
Yuming Guo explains in the study that PM2.5 concentrations vary seasonally, China and India register higher values in the winter months (December, January and February) and North America has these higher values in the summer (June, July). and August).
Source: TSF
