Smog in Europe and North America could be more than 25 times more lethal than the average air pollution found in Chinese cities, a new study suggests.
一项最新研究发现,欧洲和北美的雾霾致命性可能比中国城市平均空气污染水平高出25倍以上.
In the largest ever study of its kind in the developing world, researchers tested the effects of air pollution on the health of people in 272 cities in China.
在这项有史以来针对发展中国家进行的最大规模的同类研究中,研究人员测试了中国272个城市里空气污染对人体健康的影响.
They found average annual exposure to fine particles, known as PM2.5, in those cities was more than five times higher than the level recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), according to a paper in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
研究人员发现,在这些城市中,人们的年均PM2.5接触量是世界卫生组织建议水平的5倍多.研究论文发表在《美国呼吸系统和重症护理医学杂志》上.
However they also discovered that it was much less likely to increase the death rate than PM2.5 in Europe and North America.
但研究人员也发现,与欧洲和北美的PM2.5相比,中国的pm2.5致命性要低得多.
The researchers, led by Dr Maigeng Zhou, of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested this was because China is affected by large amounts of natural dust blown by the wind from arid areas, while most pollution in the West comes from industry.
中国疾病预防控制中心周脉耕博士领导的这个研究团队提出,这是因为中国的空气污染源于从干旱地区吹来的大量天然尘土,而西方的污染主要来自工业.
They found that for every increase of 10 micrograms of air pollution in a cubic metre of air, the mortality rate increased by 0.22 percent, discounting deaths from accidents.
他们发现,如果不考虑意外事故造成的死亡,中国每立方米空气里的污染物每增加10微克,死亡率就增加0.22%.
Professor Frank Kelly, an expert in environmental health at King's College London, who was not involved in the study but has studied air pollution in China, told The Independent: "Those relative risks are considerably less than those seen in Europe and the US.
英国伦敦大学国王学院环境健康专家弗兰克-凯利教授告诉《独立报》记者："这些相对的风险明显比欧洲和美国小得多."凯利没有参与此项研究,但研究了中国的空气污染.
"For premature mortality [in Europe] we are working on a six percent increase per 10 micrograms."
凯利说："就（欧洲的）过早死亡率来看,每立方米空气污染物每增加10微克,死亡率将增加6%."
That suggests air pollution in Europe is about 27 times more toxic than average air pollution in China.
这表明,欧洲空气污染的毒性约为中国的27倍.
However Professor Kelly said cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong were likely to suffer from Western-style air pollution.
但是,凯利教授说,北京、上海和香港这样的城市可能也存在"西式"空气污染.
"The natural dust component there is not of the magnitude that it would dwarf the coal, biomass and fossil fuel signals," he said.
"那儿空气中天然尘土的数量还不足以使煤炭、生物物质和化石燃料等因素相形见绌."
"That [the lower mortality rate] may be true in certain cities whose pollution is not dominated by local power generation or major traffic congestion."
他说："在污染物主要不是来自当地电厂或严重交通拥堵的某些城市,（死亡率较低）可能是事实."
