People Today Are Still Dying Early From High 1970s Air Pollution

Lungs have long memories. People who inhaled urban smoke and toxic fumes decades ago are still more likely to die of respiratory and heart disease, according to the most detailed study yet of the impact of past air pollution on recent death rates.

“An individual who lived in a more highly polluted area in 1971 still had a 14 per cent higher risk of dying in 2002-09 than someone who had lived in a less polluted area,” says Anna Hansell of Imperial College London, who led the study. Increased rates of bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia and heart disease accounted for the extra deaths.

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