Background:
“Pollution— ie, unwanted waste of human origin released to air, land, water, and the ocean without regard for cost or consequence—is an existential threat to human health and planetary health, and jeopardises the sustainability of modern societies. Pollution includes contamination of air by fine particulate matter (PM2·5); ozone; oxides of sulphur and nitrogen; freshwater pollution; contamination of the ocean by mercury, nitrogen, phosphorus, plastic, and petroleum waste; and poisoning of the land by lead, mercury, pesticides, industrial chemicals, electronic waste, and radioactive waste.
Over the past two decades, deaths caused by the modern forms of pollution (eg, ambient air pollution and toxic chemical pollution) have increased by 66%, driven by industrialisation, uncontrolled urbanisation, population growth, fossil fuel combustion, and an absence of adequate national or international chemical policy.
Despite declines in deaths from household air and water pollution, pollution still causes more than 9 million deaths each year globally. This number has not changed since 2015.
More than 90% of pollution-related deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries.
Key areas in which focus is needed include air pollution, lead poisoning, and chemical pollution. Air pollution causes over 6·5 million deaths each year globally, and this number is increasing. Lead and other chemicals are responsible for 1·8 million deaths each year globally, which is probably an undercounted figure.
The triad of pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss are the key global environmental issues of our time. These issues are intricately linked and solutions to each will benefit the others.
We cannot continue to ignore pollution. We are going backwards.”
From: Fuller R, Landrigan P, Balakrishnan K et al. (2022). Pollution and health: a progress update. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6, e535-e547. (PDF) (Cited by)
Sources:
*Xie, C., Xia, X., Wang, K., Yan, J., Bai, L., Guo, L., Li, X., & Wu, S. (2025). Ambient Air Pollution and Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease: An Updated Meta-Analysis. Toxics, 13(2), 139. [PDF] [Cited by]
“BACKGROUND: Previous epidemiological evidence regarding the associations between ambient air pollution and two major neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), remains inconclusive.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the associations between long-term and short-term exposure to PM(2.5) and PM(10) (i.e., particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of, or smaller than, 2.5 mum or 10 mum), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)), ozone, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide and the risks of AD and PD.
METHODS: A random-effects model was used to summarize individual effect estimates in the meta-analysis. A subgroup meta-analysis was further conducted to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity.
RESULTS: In total, 42 eligible studies were included. For each 5 mug/m(3) increase in long-term PM(2.5) exposure, the odds ratios (ORs) were 1.16 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.30; I(2) = 95%) and 1.10 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.17; I(2) = 95%) for AD and PD, respectively. For each 5 mug/m(3) increase in short-term PM(2.5) exposure, the OR was 1.01 (95% CI: 1.002, 1.01; I(2) = 77%) for PD. For each 1 ppb increase in long-term NO(2) exposure, the OR was 1.01 (95% CI: 1.0002, 1.02; I(2) = 79%) for PD.
CONCLUSION: Ambient air pollution, particularly PM(2.5), may contribute to the increased risks of neurodegenerative diseases including AD and PD.”
*Cisneros, R., Amiri, M., & Gharibi, H. (2025). The association between increases in nitrate in drinking water and colorectal cancer incidence rates in California, USA. Cancer Causes & Control, 36(10), 1041-1057. [PDF] [Cited by]
“PURPOSE: The water resources in California are polluted with nitrate (NO3) due to the ever-increasing application of nitrogen-based fertilizers. Considering the potential connection between NO3 in drinking water and the incidence rate of colorectal cancer, this study aims to investigate the association between long-term exposure to NO3 via drinking water and the incidence of colorectal cancer from 2010 to 2015 in California.
METHODS: A total of 56,631 diagnoses of colorectal cancer were recorded from 2010 to 2015. A generalized linear model was used to obtain the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval associated with a 1 mg/l-NO3 increase in NO3 concentration across five latency periods. The potential effect modification by sex, race/ethnicity, and age (>40, 41-64, 65-90, and >90) was explored through stratification.
RESULTS: The association between increases in the concentration of NO3 at lag 0-1, lag 0-5, lag 0-10, lag 0-15, and lag 0-20 (RRs: 1.056 [1.055, 1.058]; 1.066 [1.063, 1.069]; 1.030 [1.028, 1.031]; 1.017 [1.016, 1.018]; 1.035 [1.034, 1.037], respectively) was positively associated with the RR of colorectal cancer. Sex was not found to be a significant modifier. The RRs for Hispanics, Blacks, and other races were greater than those for Whites; the RRs across different age categories were all significantly positive.
CONCLUSION: This study confirms an association between long-term NO3 exposure in drinking water and the incidence of colorectal cancer in California, emphasizing the need for stringent water quality control and public health strategies to address this risk, particularly in vulnerable populations.”
*Burnett, R., Chen, H., Szyszkowicz, M., Fann, N., Hubbell, B., Pope, C. A., Apte, J. S., Brauer, M., Cohen, A., Weichenthal, S., Coggins, J., Di, Q., Brunekreef, B., Frostad, J., Lim, S. S., Kan, H., Walker, K. D., Thurston, G. D., Hayes, R. B., . . . Spadaro, J. V. (2018). Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(38), 9592-9597. [PDF] [Cited by]
“Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a major global health concern. Quantitative estimates of attributable mortality are based on disease-specific hazard ratio models that incorporate risk information from multiple PM2.5 sources (outdoor and indoor air pollution from use of solid fuels and secondhand and active smoking), requiring assumptions about equivalent exposure and toxicity. We relax these contentious assumptions by constructing a PM2.5-mortality hazard ratio function based only on cohort studies of outdoor air pollution that covers the global exposure range. We modeled the shape of the association between PM2.5 and nonaccidental mortality using data from 41 cohorts from 16 countries-the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM). We then constructed GEMMs for five specific causes of death examined by the global burden of disease (GBD). The GEMM predicts 8.9 million [95% confidence interval (CI): 7.5-10.3] deaths in 2015, a figure 30% larger than that predicted by the sum of deaths among the five specific causes (6.9; 95% CI: 4.9-8.5) and 120% larger than the risk function used in the GBD (4.0; 95% CI: 3.3-4.8). Differences between the GEMM and GBD risk functions are larger for a 20% reduction in concentrations, with the GEMM predicting 220% higher excess deaths. These results suggest that PM2.5 exposure may be related to additional causes of death than the five considered by the GBD and that incorporation of risk information from other, nonoutdoor, particle sources leads to underestimation of disease burden, especially at higher concentrations.”
*Grigorieva, E., & Lukyanets, A. (2021). Combined Effect of Hot Weather and Outdoor Air Pollution on Respiratory Health: Literature Review. Atmosphere, 12(6), 790. [PDF] [Cited by]
“Association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and respiratory health is well documented. At the same time, it is widely known that extreme weather events intrinsically exacerbate air pollution impact. Particularly, hot weather and extreme temperatures during heat waves (HW) significantly affect human health, increasing risks of respiratory mortality and morbidity. Concurrently, a synergistic effect of air pollution and high temperatures can be combined with weather-air pollution interaction during wildfires. The purpose of the current review is to summarize literature on interplay of hot weather, air pollution, and respiratory health consequences worldwide, with the ultimate goal of identifying the most dangerous pollution agents and vulnerable population groups. A literature search was conducted using electronic databases Web of Science, PUBMED, Science Direct, and Scopus, focusing only on peer-reviewed journal articles published in English from 2000 to 2021. The main findings demonstrate that the increased level of PM10 and O3 results in significantly higher rates of respiratory and cardiopulmonary mortality. Increments in PM2.5 and PM10, O3, CO, and NO2 concentrations during high temperature episodes are dramatically associated with higher admissions to hospital in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, daily hospital emergency transports for asthma, acute and chronic bronchitis, and premature mortality caused by respiratory disease. Excessive respiratory health risk is more pronounced in elderly cohorts and small children. Both heat waves and outdoor air pollution are synergistically linked and are expected to be more serious in the future due to greater climate instability, being a crucial threat to global public health that requires the responsible involvement of researchers at all levels. Sustainable urban planning and smart city design could significantly reduce both urban heat islands effect and air pollution.”
*Wigand, M. E., Timmermann, C., Scherp, A., Becker, T., & Steger, F. (2022). Climate Change, Pollution, Deforestation, and Mental Health: Research Trends, Gaps, and Ethical Considerations. GeoHealth, 6(11), e2022GH000632. [PDF] [Cited by]
“Climate change, pollution, and deforestation have a negative impact on global mental health. There is an environmental justice dimension to this challenge as wealthy people and high-income countries are major contributors to climate change and pollution, while poor people and low-income countries are heavily affected by the consequences. Using state-of-the art data mining, we analyzed and visualized the global research landscape on mental health, climate change, pollution and deforestation over a 15-year period. Metadata of papers were exported from PubMed(R), and both relevance and relatedness of terms in different time frames were computed using VOSviewer. Co-occurrence graphs were used to visualize results. The development of exemplary terms over time was plotted separately. The number of research papers on mental health and environmental challenges is growing in a linear fashion. Major topics are climate change, chemical pollution, including psychiatric medication in wastewater, and neurobiological effects. Research on specific psychiatric syndromes and diseases, particularly on their ethical and social aspects is less prominent. There is a growing body of research literature on links between mental health, climate change, pollution, and deforestation. This research provides a graphic overview to mental healthcare professionals and political stakeholders. Social and ethical aspects of the climate change-mental health link have been neglected, and more research is needed.”
Other sources:
Air pollution: one of the world’s greatest public health threats
Greater air pollution and heat tied to adverse pregnancy outcomes
Questions? Please let me know (engelk@grinnell.edu).
