Sunday, January 6, 2008

CO2 Killing Hundreds in U.S. Alone


U.S. (TGW) - Carbon dioxide (CO2) spewed by coal-fired power plants and vehicles have caused hundreds of premature deaths in the U.S. alone, a new study says.

The study does not take into account the consequences also caused by the heating of the earth.

The deaths were due to lung and heart ailments linked to ozone and polluting particles in the air, according to the report.

Mark Jacobson of Stanford University and his team used a computer model to discover that the impact is worse more populated and polluted cities.

"Of the additional ... deaths per year due to ozone and particles ... about 30 percent of those occurred in California, which has 12 percent of the (U.S.) population," he said, noting that California has six of the 10 most polluted U.S. cities.

"So it was pretty clear ... that climate change was affecting Californians' health disproportionately to its population," Jacobson said.

Via :: Reuters

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