The research is clear, the health effects of air pollution are devastating. Prolonged exposure to air pollution can cause permanent health effects. These include loss of lung capacity, development of cardiovascular diseases, and a shortened lifespan. Even in the short term, healthy individuals can experience health effects caused by air pollution.
Read more about the latest regarding the health effects of air pollution on human health, as well as how to protect your health from air pollution.
I’ve seen people ask if air purifiers depend on the placebo effect or do they actually work. I think this is a good question because we should not confuse the outcomes of (1) objectively reducing pollutants in the air versus (2) health effects. There are two things we know …
Asbestos in China is a commonly used building material, and it may be more dangerous than formaldehyde. So why do so few people talk about asbestos in China? Contrast that with other pollutants. One day a few years ago, a Chinese friend of mine asked me about jiaquan (甲醛). “Huh?” I …
During the winter pollution season in Beijing, everyone people get worried about the air pollution. I heard about this so much that I decided to make a meme out of it. But I see people who seem to think pollution takes a vacation for the summer. Take as an example …
Have you have ever wondered about the effects of Delhi’s air on people who work outdoors? How about Delhi’s traffic police? We sure have at Smart Air, and we have been waiting for research to catch up with our ruminations. A study on Delhi’s traffic police officers, published in January 2017, finally …
The World Bank released a new report titled “The Cost of Air Pollution: strengthening the economic case for action” which talks about the consequences of air pollution and in it, they detail how air pollution is now the 4th leading risk factor for deaths worldwide. That’s worse than the deaths …
Air pollution can be confusing. As a topic, it’s often not well understood or well-reported about. That means separating fact from fiction can often be hard to do. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish research-backed facts and findings from common misconceptions–misconceptions that sometimes even get repeated in the …
In 2008, the Chittranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in Kolkata published the results from a study examining the health of lung function among school children, aged 4-17, in Delhi. To test whether children in Delhi fared worse than those outside of the city, the study compared 11,628 children from different parts …
I’ve posted data before showing that outdoor air quality is strongly correlated with indoor particle counts (r = .71), but Chinese New Year gives nerds like me a great chance to see what happens when we get a momentary shock to air quality. The media made a big deal about people cutting …
A while back, I posted data I collected from places around Beijing showing that indoor air is consistently cleaner than outdoor air. When I analyzed that data, I excluded places that allow smoking, but I’m posting the data here now: Even on days where outside air was bad (AQI ~ …
