Effects of air pollution on health

doi:10.1136/bmj.39304.389433.AD

BMJ 2007;335:314-315 (18 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.39304.389433.AD

Editorials

Effects of air pollution on health

Quantifying the effect alone is not enough to change policyand improve health

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The term "smog"—a combination of smoke and fog—wasinvented by a British doctor a century ago. In 21st centuryEurope, air pollution has greatly improved by most measuresbut is still a substantial health problem, responsible for theearly deaths of hundreds of thousands of people each year.¹Estimates of mortality attributable to long term exposure tofine particles are now widely accepted as a key policy indicatorof the effect of air pollution. A draft UK government report,written by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutionand currently open for public review, re-examines the scientificevidence underpinning these estimates.²

The most directly applicable evidence is provided by follow-upof large populations exposed to different long term averagelevels of air pollution. Findings of the first cohort studiesby the American Cancer Society have been confirmed and extendedby additional years of follow-up³ and extensive reanalyses,⁴and . . . [Full text of this article]

Simon Hales, senior research fellow, Philippa Howden-Chapman, professor

He Kainga Oranga Housing and Health Research Programme, Department of Public Health, University of Otago Wellington, Mein Street, Wellington, New Zealand

simon.hales@otago.ac.nz

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