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The Health Costs of Pollution. How many chemicals are out there?. In the US we introduce 1,000 new chemicals every year. There are more than 72,000 chemicals in commercial use. Less than 90% of all chemicals have been tested to see how toxic they really are.
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How many chemicals are out there? • In the US we introduce 1,000 new chemicals every year. • There are more than 72,000 chemicals in commercial use. • Less than 90% of all chemicals have been tested to see how toxic they really are. • The US Environmental Protection Agency has ranked pesticide residues in food as the third most serious environmental health threat in the United States in terms of cancer risk.
You are essentially swimming around in a chemical soup from the food you eat, to the clothes you wear. So what are the consequences of all of this contamination?
According to the American Lung Association: • Each year, pollution claims 70,000 lives in the United States. • Globally, an estimated 200,000 to 570,000 people die each year from air pollution. • Estimates of the annual human health costs of outdoor air pollution range from $14 billion to $55 billion annually. • Power plant particle pollution is estimated to cause more than 603,000 asthma episodes per year, 366,000 of which could be avoided by cleaning up the power plants.
Map Legend: This map shows the number of people living in areas where the estimated cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants is greater than 1 in 10,000.
