Pollution kills more than AIDS and traffic in Sao Paulo
16/10/2008 16:15
A study released yesterday by the Sao Paulo University's (USP) Air
Pollution Lab said air pollution is more lethal than AIDS and traffic
accidents.
The study said diseases caused by pollution results in about nine
deaths a day in Sao Paulo, or 3,500 deaths a year, while AIDS and traffic
accidents together caused 1,624 deaths in 2007.
The study estimates that the
Sao Paulo metropolitan area's government spends US$1.5 billion on
pollution-caused diseases.
The six million vehicles in the city are mainly to
be blamed for the air pollution in Sal Paulo.
Diesel-fueled vehicles, which
represent 10 percent of the total, release 62 percent of air pollutants.
The
reduction of sulfur released by diesel-fueled vehicles could save 150 lives a
year. The figure is not too far from the 232 deaths caused by AIDS in the city
last year, a professor in the Air Pollution Lab said.
The city will reduce at
least 5 percent of the pollution in 2009 with the adoption of the so-called
"clean diesel", which has a lower concentration of sulfur, the professor
said.
Xinhua
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