Effects of Air Pollution Human health

Effects of Air Pollution

Human health

Emerging literature shows that air pollution has been associated with health impacts on fertility, pregnancy, and new-borns and children. These include negative effects on neural development and cognitive capacities, which in turn can affect performance at school and further in life, leading to lower productivity and quality of life. There is also emerging evidence that exposure to air pollution is associated with new-onset type 2 diabetes in adults, and may be linked to obesity and dementia (RCP, 2016 and references therein).

While air pollution is harmful to everyone, some people suffer more because they are more likely to live in polluted areas and exposed to higher levels of air pollution, or more vulnerable to health problems caused by air pollution. Air pollution also raises an equity problem, as poorer people are more likely to have existing medical conditions, and tend to live in areas where the outdoor and indoor environments are not as healthy (RCP, 2016). Less access to decent housing, green spaces, jobs, and healthy food all contribute to poor health. These stressful conditions may also affect the body’s response to air pollution, potentially creating a vicious circle.

The proportion of the population affected by less severe health impacts is much larger than the proportion of the population affected by more serious health impacts (e.g. those leading to premature deaths). In spite of this, it is the severe outcomes (such as increased risk of mortality and reduced life expectancy) that are most often considered in epidemiological studies and health-risk analyses, because there are usually better data available for the severe effects (EEA, 2013a).

While this report only focuses on ambient air quality, indoor air pollution also pose considerable impacts on health (Lim et al., 2012; WHO, 2013a; RCP, 2016) and is greatly impacted by outdoor air pollution.

Ecosystems

Climate change

Air pollution and climate change are intertwined. Several air pollutants are also climate forcers, which have a potential impact on climate and global warming in the short term (i.e. decades). Tropospheric O₃ and black carbon (BC), a constituent of PM, are examples of air pollutants that are short-lived climate forcers and that contribute directly to global warming. Other PM components, such as organic carbon (OC), ammonium (NH₄⁺), sulphate (SO₄^2–) and nitrate (NO₃^–), have a cooling effect. In addition, changes in weather patterns due to climate change may change the transport, dispersion, deposition and formation of air pollutants in the atmosphere. For example, a warmer climate leads to an increase in ground level ozone production, and increased ozone levels then contribute to more warming.

Measures to cut BC emissions, along with those of other pollutants that cause tropospheric O₃ formation, such as methane (CH₄) (itself a greenhouse gas (GHG)), will help to reduce health and ecosystem impacts and the extent of global climate warming. Air quality and climate change should therefore be tackled together by policies and measures that have been developed through an integrated approach.

The built environment and cultural heritage

Air pollution can also damage materials and buildings, including Europe’s most culturally significant buildings. The impact of air pollution on cultural heritage materials is a serious concern because it can lead to the loss of parts of our history and culture. Damage includes corrosion, biodegradation and soiling. Emissions of air pollutants are deposited and build up over the years on the surfaces of buildings. The walls, windows and roofs, made mainly of stone, bricks, cement, glass, wood and ceramic, become discoloured and suffer material loss, structural failure and soiling. Of particular importance is soiling caused by particles and corrosion caused by acidifying compounds (mostly sulphur and nitrogen oxides, SO_x and NO_x, as well as carbon dioxide (CO₂)).

Economic consequences

The effects of air pollution on health, crops and forests yields, ecosystems, the climate, and the building environmental also entail considerable market and non-market costs. The market costs of air pollution, include reduced labour productivity, additional health expenditure, and crop and forest yield losses. OECD projects these costs to become about 2% of European gross domestic product (GDP) in 2060 (OECD, 2016), leading to a reduction in capital accumulation and a slowdown in economic growth.

In addition to market costs, there are considerable non-market costs (also referred to as welfare costs) associated with increased mortality and morbidity (illness causing e.g. pain and suffering), degradation of air and water quality and consequently ecosystems heath, as well as climate change.

The European Commission estimates that total health-related external costs in 2010 were in the range of EUR 330–940 billion per year, including direct economic damages of EUR 15 billion from lost work days, EUR 4 billion from healthcare costs, EUR 3 billion from crop yield loss and EUR 1 billion from damage to buildings (European Commission, 2013a).

The potential total economic consequences of both market and non-market impacts of ambient air pollution are very significant and underscore the need for strong policy action.

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