China is bracing for a wave of deaths related to particulate air pollution, new research finds. The study, published in Atmospheric Environment, tracks increases in a type of air pollution known as PM2.5 and deaths in China in the late 2000’s, and subsequent decreases in both in the subsequent decade. The findings highlight the opportunity to further improve public health through actions slashing fossil fuel use, but they also augur danger for the country’s aging population. “The same level of air pollution will have a greater impact on an older and less healthy population,” Michael Brauer of the University of British Columbia, who was not involved in the study, told The Guardian. (The Guardian)
