SOURCE: Medical Reform Group
—For immediate release (Toronto: 1 Jun 98)—
More Evidence that Smog Kills
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As reported in the Globe and Mail on Saturday, May 30, a study to be published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health next month reports increases in death rates in 11 Canadian cities during days when pollution is higher than usual.
Though the message warrants the front-page coverage it received, the reason isn’t because the information is new. The researchers note that their findings are very similar to previous studies conducted in North America, South America, and Europe.
These results reinforce another set of studies that have found higher death rates in cities with high levels of air pollution in comparison to cities with lower air pollution.
Like smoking and lung cancer, no one will be able to definitely prove that air pollution kills. However, the evidence is consistent and strong strong enough to warrant public action.
Governments and the public are more interested than ever in preventing illness and premature death, rather than focusing a health care system on simply treating problems after they occur. Reducing smoking would have the biggest impact, but cutting air pollution would be one of the best ways of allocating resources to improve public health.
The MRG recognizes that there has been so little done about pollution and its health effects because of the economic cost to society. Contrast the public and press attention to the adverse health effects of cholesterol with the amount of attention given to adverse effects of pollution. The economic and political power of the largest polluters automobile manufacturers and industrial giants as well as the inconvenience associated with major restrictions on automobile use, reduces the likelihood of serious action.
Given the opposition, how could it be possible to make an impact on pollution? The MRG calls on the health professional organizations to aggressively raise this issue and to lobby with at least the same vigour as they have with respect to public policy on smoking. Policies that health workers could advocate include restricting or banning automobiles from downtown areas of our cities and rigorous enforcement of strict standards regarding industrial pollution.
Further, the MRG calls on all the political parties, and all levels of government, to stop neglecting the issue of the public health consequences of air pollution.
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