Fine Particulate Matter Causes Death

A TYPE of air pollution called "fine-particulate matter"has been found to be associated with deaths rates among people older than 65years.

  Particulate matter (PM) is the term for particles found in the air, including dust, dirt, soot, smoke and liquid droplets and Particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) are referred to as "fine" particles and are believed to pose the greatest health risks.

 Havard environmental epidemiologists who discovered this said that because of their small size (approximately 1/30th the width of a human hair), fine particles can lodge deeply into the lungs thereby causing increased deaths from heart disease, high blood pressure and reduced lung function.
  In the study, Harvard researchers looked at Medicare recipients in the New England region. The investigators found that death rates among seniors were linked to levels of a type of air pollution called "fine-particulate matter" -- even in places where air pollution levels were below those recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

  No evidence exists for a "safe" level of pollution, said senior report author Joel Schwartz, a professor of environmental epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Instead, "we need to focus on ways that lower exposure everywhere all the time," he cautioned.
  The report which was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives stated that Using satellite data, Schwartz and his colleagues determined pollution levels and temperatures for all of the ZIP codes in New England.

  And consequently, this let them examine effects of PM2.5 pollution in areas far from monitoring stations. In addition, they analyzed Medicare data on deaths in the same region from 2003 to 2008.
  However, sources of fine particles include all types of combustion - rom cars, power plants, wood burning and certain industrial processes, according to the EPA.