A UBC researcher is drawing attention to the human cost of our consumer behaviour by examining the number of deaths caused by air pollution from manufacturing goods. While some countries bear the brunt of the health risks from air pollution, the products often end up in the hands of consumers in other countries.
A UBC researcher is drawing attention to the human cost of our consumer behaviour by examining the number of deaths caused by air pollution from manufacturing goods. While some countries bear the brunt of the health risks from air pollution, the products often end up in the hands of consumers in other countries.
In a new study published today in Nature, researchers found that of the 3.45 million premature deaths caused by air pollution in 2007, about 22 per cent, or more than 750,000, were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. Here, Michael Brauer, a professor in the school of population and public health and co-author of the study, explains the cross-border impacts of air pollution.
This paper is focused on air pollution related to international trade and its health impacts. Most of the time we think about air pollution as a local issue but this study provides evidence that it is a global concern. Everyone either feels the impacts or contributes to them or both. For some, the impacts can be abstract, just as people rarely think about the workplace conditions of those making the goods that we purchase.
Continue reading at University of British Columbia (UBC).
Photo via University of British Columbia (UBC).
