Study Shows Pollution Can Increase Risks of Heart Attack and Stroke

September 27th, 2007

Last week, the Blackstone Institute, which is dedicated to solving pollution problems in the developing world, released its list of the ten most polluted placed in the world. That list includes many places most people don’t commonly visit, but also includes several in the former Soviet Union and Russia. Here’s the list:

• Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
• Linfen, China
• Tianying, China
• Sukinda, India
• Vapi, India
• La Oroya, Peru
• Dzerzhinsk, Russia
• Norilsk, Russia
• Chernobyl, Ukraine
• Kabwe, Zambia

Why is this of more than passing importance? For the past few weeks I’ve been concerned with reports that the Beijing Olympics could be impacted by that city’s air quality. I have already blogged that several teams aren’t going to train at the site of the Olympics, which is quite uncommon.

But now new medical studies have come out saying that particles of air pollution can actually trigger blood clots in the heart and lungs. I think it’s important enough to quote from Reuters so you won’t have to follow the link:

“Large population studies have shown pollution from the exhaust of trucks, buses and coal-burning factories increases the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes.

But researchers have not understood how these microscopic particles actually kill people.

‘We now know how the inflammation in the lungs caused by air pollutants leads to death from cardiovascular disease,’ said Dr. Gokhan Mutlu of Northwestern University in Chicago, who studied the effects of air pollution in mice.”

Apparently the inflammation from air pollution tells the lungs to release an immune system compound that causes the blood to clot.

Up until now, we have only had anecdotal evidence that air pollution can kill. Now we not only know it can kill, but actually how it does so. And we have the tools to clean up the air, by monitoring emissions and making changes in how we drive, live, and conduct our businesses.

Tags: air pollution beijing olympics blackstone institute heart attacks reuters

Entry Filed under: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health & Safety