Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Sun editorial:

Support for clean air

A newly published study finds evidence pollution reduces human life spans

Arguments over cost versus health have dominated the 145-year history of fighting air pollution in the United States. Those on the side of health have new information to bolster their arguments for more and tougher clean-air regulations.

The current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports on a federally funded study that says the average life span of Americans increased almost three years from 1978 to 2001, and that almost five months of that increase is directly attributable to cleaner air.

Additionally, the study found that the general health of people improves as pollution levels fall.

Scientists at Brigham Young University and the Harvard School of Public Health collaborated on the study. In a joint conclusion, they wrote, “Although multiple factors affect life expectancy, our findings provide evidence that improvements in air quality have contributed to measurable improvements in human health and life expectancy in the United States.”

Based on studies of pollution levels in 51 cities tracked from the early 1980s through the 1990s, the study shows how important it is for the federal government to prevail on clean-air regulations despite strong efforts to block them by polluting industries.

According to a 1999 book, “Cleaning the Air: The Real Story of the War on Air Pollution,” the first clean-air ordinance in the country arose after a St. Louis man filed a lawsuit in 1864, claiming his house had been rendered “almost untenantable” by smoke from his neighbor’s chimney. The city reacted by passing an ordinance requiring chimneys be 20 feet higher than surrounding buildings.

Local and state governments fought against air pollution on their own until 1955, when the federal government passed its first regulations. Throughout the quest for cleaner air, regulators have had to fight polluters such as the utility and automobile industries, which argue against pollution control measures because of their cost.

Because of this latest study, those arguments can now be better met with long-standing counterarguments that cite the cost of pollution in terms of human health and longevity.

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