Pollution kills millions per year

[Starlight]

Pollution kills more than 1.7 million children a year, WHO reports:

More than 1.7 million children under the age of 5 die each year due to the effects of living in polluted environments, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a report released Monday, WHO found more than 1 in 4 deaths of children between the ages of 1 month and 5 years old worldwide result from pollution problems including second-hand smoke, dirty water, poor sanitation, inadequate hygiene, and indoor and outdoor air pollution.

And, of course, in countries like China that have suffered recently from extremely serious air-pollution, doubtless the number of adults who will die early from lung cancer etc will increase drastically.

This should remind us that effective environmental regulations that ensure clean water and clean air, are not just nice-to-haves or things on the wish-lists of hippies and environmentalists, they are actually a basic moral necessity because they save lives.

[Jedidiah]

How about a breakdown in locations.

[Terraceth]

Pollution kills more than 1.7 million children a year, WHO reports:

Where is the 1.7 million claim from? The report says:
"In 2015, 26% of the deaths of 5.9 million children who died before reaching their fifth birthday could have been prevented through addressing environmental risks – a shocking missed opportunity."

Simple math shows that 26% of 5.9 million is 1.534 million. Where did the 1.7 million figure come from?

Beyond that, the claim that the 1.7 (actually 1.534) comes from pollution isn't true. If you look, most of the causes of death have little or nothing to do with pollution; malaria certainly doesn't. And the report states that air pollution causing pneumonia actually is primarily caused by indoor pollution, not outdoor, and the problem is less lack of environmental regulation and more low standard of living. When you don't have electricity (generally a sign of a low standard of living), you do things like burn wood to cook and use kerosene lamps, which of course have some real health risks and result in the indoor pollution.

The report is less about how pollution is causing all these deaths and more about how it's a low standard of living that leads to these preventable problems.

I'm not saying that keeping the water and air clean isn't important, but the claim you're making doesn't fit with what you're presenting.

[Starlight]

Where is the 1.7 million claim from? The report says:
"In 2015, 26% of the deaths of 5.9 million children who died before reaching their fifth birthday could have been prevented through addressing environmental risks – a shocking missed opportunity."

Simple math shows that 26% of 5.9 million is 1.534 million. Where did the 1.7 million figure come from?

Beyond that, the claim that the 1.7 (actually 1.534) comes from pollution isn't true. If you look, most of the causes of death have little or nothing to do with pollution; malaria certainly doesn't. And the report states that air pollution causing pneumonia actually is primarily caused by indoor pollution, not outdoor, and the problem is less lack of environmental regulation and more low standard of living. When you don't have electricity (generally a sign of a low standard of living), you do things like burn wood to cook and use kerosene lamps, which of course have some real health risks and result in the indoor pollution.

The report is less about how pollution is causing all these deaths and more about how it's a low standard of living that leads to these preventable problems.

I'm not saying that keeping the water and air clean isn't important, but the claim you're making doesn't fit with what you're presenting.

It's true that the number the journalists have written in the headline of the linked article doesn't seem self-evidently supported by the rest of the article, and I'm not quite sure how they derive it. The report says: "The deaths of 169 250 children under five in 2012 were attributable to ambient air pollution. An additional 531 190 deaths of children under five in 2012 resulted from lower respiratory infections caused by household air pollution."

I believe the journalists must have derived the 1.7 million number by adding together the numbers given later in the article (which add to give around 1.6 million) that were apparently given by another WHO report which broke down the causes of death - however not all those causes were due to pollution per se (e.g. 200,000 children under age 5 die from unintentional injuries attributable to hazardous environments, including poisonings, falls and drowning... that doesn't seem like "pollution").

It appears that the correct numbers for pollution are ~570,000 per year for air pollution, and ~361,000 per year for water pollution, which adds to around about 1 million total per year. Good observation. Poor headline on the part of the linked article.

One of the other things the WHO report emphasizes, I note, from skimming it, is that lead is a huge problem. (Lead from water or paint or gas fumes accumulates in the brain and causes brain damage and lowers IQ and many scientists believe it increases violent tendencies) In the report it gives no numbers for lead-caused deaths, though on their website they cite a figure of lead causing "853 000 deaths due to long-term effects on health" but I presume those are all adult deaths given the words "long-term". Obviously that has implications for current US policy - Trump wants to do a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill so ripping up and replacing every single lead pipe in America seems like a good choice to start off with and he can replace them all with "American-made steel" or whatever floats his boat.

[Catholicity]

Abortion kills more. Why not get rid of both.

[Bill the Cat]

Abortion kills more. Why not get rid of both.

Awww... ya beat me to it!!

[mossrose]

I don't know why Star is so upset over this.

It just fulfills his okay-ness with killing young children. He should be glad this is happening.

[seer]

It just fulfills his okay-ness with killing young children. He should be glad this is happening.

And decrease the surplus population...

[Meh Gerbil]

Looks like pollution is giving your average atheist dictator a run for his money.

[Mountain Man]

This is one of those funny issues, because nobody is against clean air and water. It's just that some of us don't think that checking off every item on the liberal/socialist wishlist is the best way to accomplish it.

[Catholicity]

Awww... ya beat me to it!!

That was one of those rare moments Bill.

[Jedidiah]

This is one of those funny issues, because nobody is against clean air and water. It's just that some of us don't think that checking off every item on the liberal/socialist wishlist is the best way to accomplish it.

Especially since the majority of those deaths is outside of America (which makes them no less horrible) so using those figures to support legislation in the USA is dishonest.

[Mountain Man]

But that's how liberals operate, put the screws to the US and let other countries do whatever they want.

[Meh Gerbil]

Especially since the majority of those deaths is outside of America (which makes them no less horrible) so using those figures to support legislation in the USA is dishonest.

Except that much of our pollution is 'off shored'.
Much of the electronic waste we produce is shipped overseas for recycling.

I don't know how much of an impact that makes but there is a 'stream' of waste to consider here.

[Sparko]

Except that much of our pollution is 'off shored'.
Much of the electronic waste we produce is shipped overseas for recycling.

I don't know how much of an impact that makes but there is a 'stream' of waste to consider here.

I thought we just dumped it in the ocean to kill the whales?