Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy
Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy by Yuyu Chen, Avraham Ebenstein, Michael Greenstone, and Hongbin Li, aims to study the health repercussions of the high pollution levels. It does this through the exploitation of the Chinese policy that highlighted the differences in the quality of air across China. The quality of the air in the People’s Democratic of China is inferior, and the concentrations of the total suspended particulates (TSPs) throughout 1981-2001 exceeded the annual ambient standards. Notably, it also was five times more than the levels experienced in the United States before the enactment of the Clean Air Act in the year 1970. It adopts a quasi-experimental empirical method on the Chinese, Huai River Policy- free heating during winter by the use of coal in northern parts of China and denial of the heat in southern China.
The limiting budget forced them to form their study along the line of Huai River and the Qinling Mountains range. The government’s establishment of free winter heating through deliveries of free coal to homes led to the generation of air pollutants that are considered harmful to human health. Currently, the practice is still being done in the northern parts of China.
The results underline that the pollutants are affecting human lives. Huai river policy reveals that the life expectancies in the northern region are lower- 5.5 years, while the total suspended particulates are 55% higher. The lower life expectancy is noted to be due to the increased incidences of the cardiorespiratory mortalities. The results also show a decline in the life expectancies of the populations across other countries due to increased exposures to the Total suspended particulates. The decrease is by 3.0 years, which is by far higher than the estimated numbers from the least square equations using the same data.
This study also examines the shortcomings in the public’s understanding of the effects of air pollution on human health. Huai river policy led to the difference in the concentration of total suspended particulates between cities present in the north and the south and also aided in the research by limiting the movement of people. One factor to be considered when using data from the United States or any other developed nation ought to assume that there is no migration or that the short-term variation of the air pollution provides sufficient information about the life expectancies.
The research is critical in understanding the impacts that pollution has on the lives of humans. Air pollution is a significant concern with the increasing economies across the globe. The concentration of the total suspended particulates is increasing due to the industrialization and human factors. However, humans ignore the consequences that come with these pollutants in the air. This study provides an in-depth understanding of how air pollution hampers the life expectancy of anyone exposed to these pollutants. The data sets used in the study focus on the overall perspective, and this enables us to understand the impact on human life. They use coal to emphasize the implications of carbon dioxide on our respiratory organs and metabolism. These results point to the real-life problems being faced by humans currently. One major flaw of the study is the limited area of research it uses. Preferably, the study should have covered more than one country better to understand the impacts of the pollutants on human life.
Reference
Chen, Y., Ebenstein, A., Greenstone, M., & Li, H. (2013). Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(32), 12936-12941.