13 replies to this topic

[greenking]

is this true? In China about 300,000 people die yearly from lung cancer and heart disease directly
related to air pollution? That's a lot!

[Hayden]

Did that statistic have a source?

[MakingCents]

While I do think people develop lung cancer from air pollution this seams like a really high number of year deaths.  I would love to see the article that references this.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

You've posted a few topics seeking opinions I suppose, but your questions don't have links to
substantiate the facts. What gives? Just asking questions is fine but where are the links?

[Ansem]

Seeing as cities like Shanghai are literally flooded with smug you can't even see the end of the street due to a brown walm.
I say it's completely plausible.

[still learning]

greenking, on 03 February 2012 - 09:35 AM, said:

is this true? In China about 300,000 people die yearly from lung cancer and heart disease directly
related to air pollution? That's a lot!

Lets see....
Accepting the 300,000 number (I didn't check it)....
From Wikipedia 1.3 billion peple live in China  http://en.wikipedia....nese_population
From Wikipedia  7.03 deaths per 1000,
So 9.13 million deaths per year in China and 300,000 is about 3.3% of total deaths.
3.3% sounds high until you look at articles like this: http://www.scienceda...70813162438.htm
(Which I'm taking with a grain of salt, kind of remembering that " there are  lies, there are damn lies and there are statistics')

[Shortpoet-GTD]

arboramans, on 21 February 2012 - 04:10 AM, said:

"We documented 20,033 deaths in 1,239,191 person-years of follow-up. The mortality from all causes was 1480.1 per 100,000 person-years among men and 1190.2 per 100,000 person-years among women. The five leading causes of death were malignant neoplasms (mortality, 374.1 per 100,000 person-years), diseases of the heart (319.1), cerebrovascular disease (310.5), accidents (54.0), and infectious diseases (50.5) among men and diseases of the heart (268.5), cerebrovascular disease (242.3), malignant neoplasms (214.1), pneumonia and influenza (45.9), and infectious diseases (35.3) among women. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk of death and the population attributable risk for preventable risk factors were as follows: hypertension, 1.48 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.44 to 1.53) and 11.7 percent, respectively; cigarette smoking, 1.23 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.18 to 1.27) and 7.9 percent; physical inactivity, 1.20 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.16 to 1.24) and 6.8 percent; and underweight (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters] below 18.5), 1.47 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.42 to 1.53) and 5.2 percent."

Link?

[artistry]

This is not specifically related to China, but air pollution can lead to certain diseases, such as diabetes. So it is not that far fetched to learn that air pollution has lead to so many deaths there, if true. A lot of the people in China, wear face masks on a daily basis. http://www.scienceda...0929105654.html  This relates to an epidemiologic study on the air pollution, diabetes connection.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

artistry, on 22 February 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

This is not specifically related to China, but air pollution can lead to certain diseases, such as diabetes. So it is not that far fetched to learn that air pollution has lead to so many deaths there, if true. A lot of the people in China, wear face masks on a daily basis. http://www.scienceda...0929105654.html  This relates to an epidemiologic study on the air pollution, diabetes connection.

I remember seeing (years ago) people in China getting oxygen from stations installed on light poles.

[jasserEnv]

Air pollution is responsible for a lot of deaths worldwide. That is why both left and right leaning politicians seem to agree on fighting air pollution even if they don't agree on how to do it. The missing link from the first post was likely related to the following story from 2007 in which China was hiding the truth about air pollution deaths. Really, China hiding the truth, I am shocked...

http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/6265098.stm

[Ansem]

arboramans, on 27 February 2012 - 04:57 PM, said:

This is why most people are against Carbon particulates but not against Carbon Dioxide. One causes smog and health problems, the other feeds our crops and flowers.

You get some, you lose some.
It's what priorities you make that decide the final answer.