POLLUTION KILLING MILLIONS WORLD WIDE

Last Saturday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Pollution kills nine million a year, study says". The study was done by lead author and epidemiologist, Philip Landrigan of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. It was released last Thursday in Lancet (Britain) medical journal. One out of six premature deaths in the world in 2015 were caused by diseases from toxic exposure. Experts consider the nine million figure to be very conservative and only a partial estimate of a likely higher number. While considerable work has been done in North America and Europe, Asia and Africa are the regions putting most people at risk with China and India leading the carnage. That said poorer communities both eastern and western are more likely to face toxic exposures.

Air pollution is the most obvious direct cause with contaminated water also high on the list. The nine million figure is 1 1/2 times greater than those killed by smoking, three times the number killed by AIDS, six times the number killed in traffic accidents and fifteen times the number killed in war or other violence.

This is beyond tragic. Perhaps referring to major polluters as murderers is not inaccurate. I have long wondered how many of our local citizens in Elmira and Woolwich (thinking of Breslau) have suffered and died due to the air and water pollution from Uniroyal/Lanxess and Breslube/Safety-Kleen. Here in Elmira a health study should have been done twenty-five years ago but never was. Thank you to all our municipal, regional and provincial politicians who had a hand in that coverup.

Is it possible that their is some countervailing force that is pushing back against individuals self-serving actions at the expense of mankind overall? Are premature deaths in the millions and shortening of life spans a very sad attempt to mitigate the effects of the plague of humanity on the earth? Will these premature deaths only increase until humanity are facing extinction from their own negative impact on the earth?