Moderate Air Pollution Is Harmful, Study Finds

A study of six U.S. cities has found that air pollution--even in areas that meet federal air quality standards--can shorten people’s lives.

The study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that air pollution can shorten lives by up to two years and that the smallest particles, like those from auto exhausts and smokestacks, seem mostly responsible.

Particulate pollution is severe in Southern California, and there has been a statewide debate waged over reformulation of truckers’ diesel fuel, which is the primary source of it.

The findings suggest that U.S. urban air pollution standards may not be sufficiently stringent.

The research team said mortality rates from lung cancer, lung disease and heart disease were 26% higher in Steubenville, Ohio--the most polluted area studied--than in Portage, Wis., which was the least polluted.

The air in Steubenville had, on average, three times more fine particles of pollution than the air in Portage, but particle pollution levels did not exceed federal limits.

Previous studies have also linked earlier mortality rates to high levels of air pollution, but those results failed to compensate for smoking patterns and other health risks. The new study by researchers at the Harvard University School of Public Health took smoking into account and found that air pollution poses a significant risk.