The United States is among the top 10 deadliest countries for pollution-related fatalities, according to a landmark new global study, which warns that understanding the magnitude of the pollution crisis is being obstructed by “vested interests and overtaxed political infrastructures”.
Toxic air, water, land and workplaces killed at least 8.3 million people around the world in 2017, accounting for 15% of all premature deaths.
Globally, the actual death and disability burden is almost certainly much higher as a multitude of omnipresent toxins – including pharmaceutical waste, plastics, most lead sources, mercury, and hormone disrupting chemicals – are not yet included in the health data analysed in the new report from the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution.