[ti:Pollution Is the World’s Number One Killer]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.00]A new study has identified pollution as the world's No. 1 killer.
[00:07.36]Study organizers say pollution is responsible
[00:11.15]for more premature deaths than war, terrorism,
[00:16.01]natural disasters, smoking and disease.
[00:20.76]By premature death, the researchers mean dying
[00:25.39]before the average age of death within a population group.
[00:30.35]Many of these deaths can be prevented.
[00:34.56]A report on the study was published in the medical journal Lancet.
[00:40.80]The researchers looked at pollution levels,
[00:44.87]both inside enclosed buildings and in the world around us.
[00:49.86]They estimated that pollution killed about 9 million people in 2015.
[00:57.15]That would represent one of every six deaths worldwide.
[01:03.42]Karti Sandilya helped to prepare the report.
[01:07.73]He said "Pollution threatens fundamental human rights,
[01:12.82]such as the right to life, health, well-being, safe work
[01:18.23]as well as protections of children and the most vulnerable."
[01:23.19]The report said the large majority of pollution-related deaths
[01:28.52]take place in developing countries.
[01:31.79]The researchers say leaders in those countries
[01:36.39]are more concerned about building their economies
[01:39.97]and public services than environmental controls.
[01:45.06]Some of the most affected countries are Bangladesh,
[01:49.84]China, Haiti, India, Pakistan, North Korea and South Sudan.
[01:57.89]But Richard Fuller, another writer of the report,
[02:01.91]said pollution is tied to slow economic development in both rich and poor nations.
[02:09.88]He said "There is this myth that finance ministers still live by,
[02:16.35]that you have to let industry pollute or else you won't develop.
[02:21.81]What people don't realize ... people who are sick
[02:25.44]or dead cannot contribute to the economy.
[02:29.44]They need to be looked after."
[02:32.03]The report said that 9 million premature deaths a year
[02:36.89]is only a conservative estimate.
[02:39.92]It says the actual number is likely to be much higher.
[02:45.43]A separate study by the World Bank said reducing pollution must be a top goal.
[02:53.53]It says that solving this problem would lead to solutions to other crises,
[03:00.40]including malnutrition and rising temperatures on Earth's surface.
[03:06.99]I’m Jonathan Evans.
[03:09.54]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM