Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Stanford-led research underscores pollution’s impact on child health

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/931510

 

 News Release 13-Oct-2021
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Stanford University

 

Studies have shown air pollution is a major risk factor for respiratory infection – the leading cause of death among children under five – but bad air’s specific impacts on developing bodies have remained somewhat of a mystery.

A Stanford-led study reveals a link between tiny airborne particles and child health in South Asia, a region beset with air pollution and more than 40 percent of global pneumonia cases. The analysis, published in Environmental Pollution, estimates the effect of increased particulate on child pneumonia hospitalizations is about twice as much as previously thought, and indicates a particular industry may play an outsized role in the problem.

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 Prior studies by researchers at the Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka found that biomass burning contributed the most to outdoor PM2.5 levels, followed by brick kiln emissions and soil dust. However, on days when brick kilns contributed a heavier than-usual amount of PM2.5 to the mix of bad air, the link between PM2.5 and child pneumonia was stronger.

The findings are among the first evidence that communities and policymakers can point to that suggests a measurable impact of brick kilns on child health. 

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