污染每年造成的死亡人数高达……

近日，环境健康专家经过大量调查后发现，2015年，全球有900万人因污染而早逝，约占当年全球死亡人数的16%，其中大部分人死于空气污染。

这项研究发表于医学期刊《柳叶刀》杂志上。该研究由40余名国际健康与环境专家共同主笔，其数据主要来自全球疾病负担数据库。该数据库主要追踪全球的人口趋势，并分析各大疾病的致死率及其原因。为了分析有多少人死于污染相关因素，该研究分析了空气污染（如汽油、木柴、煤炭等物体燃烧导致的污染）、水污染（如不合格的下水设施导致的污染）以及生产污染（如员工暴露在煤炭、石棉等有毒物或致癌物环境中）等因素导致的影响。

研究结果显示，2015年，全球约有650万人的死亡与空气污染有关，180万人的死亡与水污染有关，近100万人的死亡与生产污染有关。心脏病、癌症等与污染有关的疾病导致的死亡人数要比艾滋病、肺结核、疟疾加起来还要多三倍以上。

研究人员还发现，在由于污染而死亡的人口中，有92%来自中低收入国家。然而美国因空气污染而死亡的人口也不在少数。在2015年，美国有超过15.5万人死于污染相关因素。

该报告的主笔、国际性非营利机构“纯净地球”（Pure Earth）的理事长理查德·福勒表示：“在我童年上学期间，我们都很担心污染问题。后来西方对污染问题的担忧渐渐弱化了，我们开始更加关心气候变化等问题。但是国际上对污染问题的关心还是远远不够的。”

研究人员指出，他们采用的数据有可能尚未真实反映问题的严重性，也没有全面反映出污染造成的所有疾病。比如研究人员并没有考虑其它一些污染物对人类健康和过早死亡的影响，如部分能干扰内分泌的物质以及防火剂、农药的污染等等。福勒还表示，现有的数据在质量和数量上也不足以充分反映这些问题。

污染致死率最高的国家，往往是那些经济发展较快的国家。该研究的作者们指出，空气污染和水污染都是工业化初期国家的常见病，但发展经济并不意味着一定要以污染水平的大幅提升为代价。福勒表示：“很多人都有这样的心态，觉得污染和工作是鱼和熊掌不能兼得，经济只有发展到一定水平了，才能去解决污染问题。然而只要有了管理得当的污染治理计划，不仅能建立健康的经济，也有助于一国的长期增长。”

一般来说，贫困地区人口更容易成为污染的受害者，因为他们更容易暴露在居住地或工作地附近的有毒化学物中。

研究人员认为，这一点也并非是无法避免的。比如包括美国在内的一些中高收入国家已经通过法律法规手段来治理空气和水污染。“现在他们的空气和水变干净了，儿童的血铅浓度下降了90%以上，他们的河流也不会再着火了，一些重点有害垃圾场也得到了处理，这些中高收入国家的大多数城市的污染水平都下降了，宜居程度也相应提升了。”

该研究报告也推荐了一些治理方案，比如将污染问题上升为国内国际的优先要务；划拨资金用于控制污染；建立污染监察机制；建立多部门合作机制；将控制污染纳入国家非传染性疾病控制战略；针对污染和控污进行更多研究调查，等等。

福勒表示：“我希望那些着眼于经济发展的决策者能够更加关心污染问题，也希望这份研究能为他们敲响警钟。” （财富中文网）

译者：贾政景

本文原载于Time.com

In one of the most extensive reports of its kind, environmental health experts have estimated that nine million premature deaths worldwide—16% of all deaths—were linked to pollution in 2015, with the majority of deaths coming from air pollution.

The new study, published in the journal The Lancet and written by more than 40 international health and environmental experts, uses data from the the Global Burden of Disease, an international study that examines trends across populations and estimates mortality from major diseases and their causes. To estimate the number of people who died from pollution-related causes, i t looked at the effects of air pollution, or air contaminated with things like gases and the burning of wood, charcoal and coal; water pollution, which includes contamination by things like unhygienic sanitation; and workplace pollution, where employees are exposed to toxins and carcinogens like coal or asbestos.

Air pollution was linked to 6.5 million deaths in 2015, water pollution was linked to 1.8 million deaths and workplace pollution was linked to nearly one million deaths. Deaths from pollution-linked diseases, like heart disease and cancer, were three times higher than deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, the researchers found.

The authors also found that 92% of pollution-related deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries. But air pollution is also killing people in the United States. More than 155,000 U.S. deaths in 2015 were related to pollution, the researchers found.

“When I was a kid in school, we were all worried about pollution,” says report leader Richard Fuller, president of Pure Earth, an international nonprofit devoted to pollution cleanup. “Then I think it dropped off the radar for us in the West, and we’ve been worried more about climate change and other things. But overseas, they haven’t looked at this issue much at all.”

The researchers note that their data are likely underestimates and do not reflect the entire burden of disease from pollution. For instance, the researchers didn’t look at other contaminants, like the effects of endocrine disruptors, flame retardants and pesticides on human health and early deaths. Fuller says there isn’t data of high enough quality or quantity on those health issues.

The countries that bear the greatest burden of disease from pollution are also those that are rapidly expanding economically. The authors note that both water and air pollution can be more common in countries in the early stages of industrial development, but that significant increases in pollution do not need to be the norm. “The mindset of a lot of people is that it’s either pollution or jobs, and you have to let an economy go through this stage of being dirty until you can clean it up later,” says Fuller. “But the idea that there is a tradeoff is not borne out by the reality and facts. Well-managed pollution mitigation programs can create a healthy economy and longterm growth.”

The effects of pollution tend to disproportionally affect poor populations, since they tend to be more exposed to toxic chemicals in air and water at sources near their homes or at work.

This, too, is not inevitable, the report authors argue. Several high- and middle-income countries, including the U.S., have put in place legislation and regulation for cleaner air and water. “Their air and water are now cleaner, the blood lead concentrations of their children have decreased by more than 90%, their rivers no longer catch fire, their worst hazardous waste sites have been remediated, and many of their cities are less polluted and more livable,” the authors write.

The report offers recommendations, including making pollution a priority both nationally and internationally, mobilizing funding dedicated to pollution control, establishing monitoring systems, building multi-sector partnerships to tackle the issue, integrating pollution mitigation into non-communicable disease combatting strategies and conducting more research into pollution and pollution control.

“I hope that the people who are looking to set agendas for development are paying some attention,” says Fuller. “I hope they have a wake-up call.”

This article originally appeared on Time.com