So please stop hurting our planet ;(

Air Pollution Now Threatening Health Worldwide

Humanity is losing the battle for clean air. Despite decades of efforts to combat it, air pollution is taking a growing toll on human health, the environment, and the economy, according to a new Worldwatch Institute study.

Once primarily an urban phenomenon in industrial countries, air pollution has spread worldwide. More than a billion people--one-fifth of all humanity--live in communities that do not meet World Health Organization air quality standards.

In greater Athens, the number of deaths rises sixfold on heavily polluted days. Mexico City has been declared a hardship post for diplomats because of its unhealthy air. In Bombay, simply breathing is equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day.

"The technological solutions tried to date have been inadequate, their gains often negated by growth," according to Hilary F. French, a Researcher at the Washington, D.C.-based organization and author of Clearing the Air: A Global Agenda. "Restoring air quality depends on restructuring the energy, transportation, and industrial systems that generate the pollutants."

In the U.S., air pollution causes as many as 50,000 deaths per year and costs as much as $40 billion a year in health care and lost productivity.

Around the world, Milan, Shenyang, Tehran, Seoul, and Rio de Janeiro reported the worst levels of sulfur dioxide--a pollutant directly harmful to humans. Paris and Madrid also made the top 10 in the list, produced by a U.N. monitoring network.