Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 17, 1993 TAG: 9305170029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The research, which tracked more than 8,000 adults for about 15 years, linked the pollution chiefly to deaths from heart and lung disease.
The fine particles, small enough be inhaled into the lungs, resulted mostly from burning of fossil fuels for power generation, steel production, other industry, automobiles and home heating with wood, coal or oil, said chief author C. Arden Pope.
Pope, a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the result confirms prior studies.
In fact, it is in many ways more convincing than the prior results, commented Joel Schwartz, a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Taken together, the studies suggest "tens of thousands of people a year are dying as a result of air pollution that is within our current standards," Schwartz said.
The new study was presented Sunday in San Francisco at the annual international conference of the American Lung Association and the American Thoracic Society.
"I think this can really revolutionize our thinking about the dangers of air pollution," said Dr. Alfred Munzer, president of the American Lung Association.
Schwartz said the result shows that the fine particles can shorten people's lives by years, rather than less significant periods.
The pollution probably does not create heart or lung disease, Schwartz said. But the study results suggest that long-term exposure may make existing cases worse, and short-term exposure may lower the odds of surviving medical crises brought on by the diseases, he said.
Prior studies and the new one observed an effect on mortality at pollution levels well within federal standards, Pope said.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB