Air Pollution Causes 'Huge' Reduction in Intelligence, Study Reveals (theguardian.com)

Air pollution causes a "huge" reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health. From a report: The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person's education. "Polluted air can cause everyone to reduce their level of education by one year, which is huge," said Xi Chen at Yale School of Public Health in the US, a member of the research team. "But we know the effect is worse for the elderly, especially those over 64, and for men, and for those with low education. If we calculate [the loss] for those, it may be a few years of education."

The damage in intelligence was worst for those over 64 years old, with serious consequences, said Chen: "We usually make the most critical financial decisions in old age." Rebecca Daniels, from the UK public health charity Medact, said: "This report's findings are extremely worrying." [...] The new work, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed language and arithmetic tests conducted as part of the China Family Panel Studies on 20,000 people across the nation between 2010 and 2014. The scientists compared the test results with records of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide pollution.

Comments

Re:Huge Ratings

[PopeRatzzo]

I'm all for making America blue again. Trump is turning our skies red with pollution while making the educated white in the face. This is conservatism in the truest of form.

Brain rot.

You're a stupid cunt

[Anonymous Coward]

"what was taught"

Would be nice if swiping keyboards were less prone to misinterpreting input, or at least gave better feedback with regards to how confident it was about the word it chose.

Yes, if only there were a "Preview" feature, then your choice of keyboards wouldn't matter.

Lead was a problem

[rsilvergun]

and getting lead out of gasoline (and therefor air) generally regarded as the reason for the drop in crime rates. It's not surprising other contaminates are a problem.

Sad thing is the current administration is trying to roll back air quality rules (especially in CA, where they're held to a higher standard and often define the rest of the nation). Funny thing is the car companies hate it, since it takes 8-10 years to design & build cars and they've got no idea if this administration will last long enough to roll out cars on the lower emission scale. But in the meantime we've got a push for more coal fired plants...