University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2019, October 19). US air pollution deaths nearly halved between 1990 and 2010. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 8, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181019120726.htm

A new study based at the University of North Carolina has shown that air quality improvement, as well as medical advances in the United States over the last 30 years have brought many public health benefits, but levels of air pollution are still too high. The study explains that the increased federal air quality regulations since 1990 have cut down on the amount of pollutants allowed in the air, like particulate matter which penetrates deep into lung tissue causing damage. The study says there have been clear improvements made since 1990 in terms of reducing deaths caused by air pollution, but there is still lots of work to be done, given that the health consequences of air pollution are still widespread and lethal. The study says that new federal policies reducing air pollution regulations will “ slow the improvement in air quality or possibly make air quality worse”.

It is good to hear some positive news regarding the status of air pollution. The positive advances show that there is hope in reducing air pollution to a liveable and safe level, but there is also a lot of work to be done to reach that point. The study said that even though there have been improvements over the last 30 years, there are still 71,000 people dying from air pollution related medical issues every year in the US. Which, notably, is “as many deaths as we see from all traffic accidents and all gun shootings combined”. I do have hope that within the next couple years, and with the coming election, we will put into place new regulations which will put us on the right track to stopping air pollution related deaths. But first, everyone must go out and vote, the importance of the election in terms of environmentally related disease cannot be overstated.