Coal burning in China's north can shorten lives_美文

Coal burning in China's north can shorten lives

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Heavy air pollution reduces life expectancy, a new study has found, ringing an alarm for policymakers looking to create their future energy roadmap.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US multidisciplinary scientific serial, said on Tuesday that air pollution from burning coal caused people in northern China to live an average of 5.5 years less than the people living in the south. Coal burning has been providing heat to the north for decades.

"The study gives a clear answer to the link between life expectancy and air pollution," said Li Hongbin, an economics professor at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing who collaborated with researchers in China, the US and Israel on the study.

The study analyzed the total suspended particulate matter and deaths in 90 cities across China from 1981 to 2000, finding a sharp difference in mortality rates on either side of the Huaihe River, which is the border giving people living north of the line free heating in winter.

"With the heating policy, the northern areas have been exposed to more pollution than the southern areas, which makes the study possible," Li said, adding that low rates of migration during this period were also key to the study.

Air pollution in the north from burning coal was 55 percent higher than in the south between 1981 and 2000, while life expectancies were 5.5 years lower on average across all age ranges.