Review reveals health impacts of pollution

A review carried out by researchers from Imperial College London’s Environmental Research Group via Imperial Projects has investigated the health impacts on pollution throughout a person's life.

The report reveals that that air pollution poses a serious risk to people’s health at every stage of life, including prior to birth.

The report found that air pollution negatively affects sperm count and mobility and can also impair normal foetal development in the womb, increasing the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and pre-term births.

The evidence showed that children living in London are particularly at risk of developing lifelong, chronic conditions, including poorly developed lungs, asthma, high blood pressure, inattention and hyperactivity, and mental illness.

It was also found that The health impacts of air pollution exposure continue into old age, increasing the risk of stroke, dementia, cancer, multiple longer-term illness including respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and early death.

Dr Gary Fuller, air pollution scientist from Imperial’s Environmental Research Group and lead author of the new report said: “There is increasing evidence that impacts of air pollution are hiding in plain sight in the burden of chronic illness that affects so many people. These air pollution impacts affect our quality of life and have a large cost to society through additional health and social care costs, as well our ability to learn, work and contribute to society. The latest evidence, reflected in the new WHO guidelines, tell us that current levels of air pollution will be affecting everyone in London, including those living in the least polluted suburbs, and especially those with pre-existing vulnerabilities.”

Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, special adviser on air quality to the Royal College of Physicians and UK Research and Innovation Clean Air Champion said: “I welcome this review by Imperial’s Environmental Research Group which emphasises that air pollution harms us in all phases of life. All the latest evidence shows that the systemic effects of pollutants extend beyond the cardiopulmonary system to affect many other organs, increasing the risk of disease from conception and across a lifetime like tobacco smoking. Even because we cannot see it, air pollution, as currently encountered in the UK, should be taken much more seriously than has been the case.”

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay