Western consumers linked to pollution deaths in developing countries – Study

By Chidimma C. Okeke with agency report

A new study has shown that the extent to which Western European countries  and the US demand for clothes, toys and mobile phones contributes to air pollution in developing countries.

The study, published in The Guardian of London, said according to a landmark study, Western consumers who buy cheap imported toys, clothes and mobile phones were indirectly contributing to tens of thousands of pollution-related deaths in the countries where the goods were produced.

Nearly 3.5 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution, the research estimates; and about 22% of the deaths are associated with goods and services that were produced in one region for consumption in another.

“If the cost of imported products is lower because of less stringent air pollution controls in the regions where they are produced, then the consumer savings may come at the expense of lives lost elsewhere,” the authors conclude.

The study also revealed how emissions from industrial hotspots affect the health of people in neighbouring countries and, to a lesser extent, more distant regions, as pollutants circulate on global air currents. 

The study focused on the emission of fine particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5) from power stations, factories, aeroplanes and shipping in 13 regions, taking data from 228 countries.