Scient­ists warn air pollut­ion shorte­ned lives worldw­ide by nearly three years on averag­ePARIS: Pakistan is ranked among three worst-affected Asian countries by a ‘pandemic’ of air pollution that shortened lives, according to a news research published in the journal Cardiovascular Research on Tuesday. Scientists warned that air pollution shortened lives worldwide by nearly three years on average, and causes 8.8 million premature deaths annually. “Air pollution is a larger public health risk than tobacco smoking,” lead author Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany said. “Our results show there is an ‘air pollution pandemic’,” said senior author Thomas Munzel of the Max Planck Institute’s departments of chemistry and cardiology. Among wealthier nations, the Soviet Union’s former satellite states have the deadliest pollution, especially in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

Source: The Express Tribune March 03, 2020 18:56 UTC