Home fires, farm fumes are leading causes of air-pollution deaths
Surprising airborne suspects have researchers questioning if all pollution is equally deadly
By Beth Mole
There’s no doubt air pollution is a killer, causing more than 3 million deaths worldwide each year. But the top culprits behind the deadly air may come as a surprise.
Particles from small-scale energy use, mainly household fires for cooking and heating, are the leading cause of air-pollution deaths in many areas of Asia, researchers report in the Sept. 17 Nature. But in the northeastern United States, Russia and Europe, agricultural fumes from livestock and fertilizer were the deadliest types of air pollution, the researchers found. In these areas, small-scale energy use and agriculture beat out the more expected suspects: traffic and power plant pollution.