title: Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade.
abstract: Millions of people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution. Some studies have estimated premature mortality related to local sources of air pollution, but local air quality can also be affected by atmospheric transport of pollution from distant sources. International trade is contributing to the globalization of emission and pollution as a result of the production of goods (and their associated emissions) in one region for consumption in another region. The effects of international trade on air pollutant emissions, air quality and health have been investigated regionally, but a combined, global assessment of the health impacts related to international trade and the transport of atmospheric air pollution is lacking. Here we combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions. We find that, of the 3.45 million premature deaths related to PM2.5pollution in 2007 worldwide, about 12 per cent (411,100 deaths) were related to air pollutants emitted in a region of the world other than that in which the death occurred, and about 22 per cent (762,400 deaths) were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. For example, PM2.5pollution produced in China in 2007 is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in regions other than China, including more than 3,100 premature deaths in western Europe and the USA; on the other hand, consumption in western Europe and the USA is linked to more than 108,600 premature deaths in China. Our results reveal that the transboundary health impacts of PM2.5pollution associated with international trade are greater than those associated with long-distance atmospheric pollutant transport.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.|State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Xujia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.|Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Guannan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
authors.forename: Zifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Streets
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Ruijing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Donkelaar
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.|Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Randall V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.affiliation: Resnick Sustainability Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: Da
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Haidong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Jintai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.|State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.|State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Kebin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.|School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Dabo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D061213:Mortality, Premature; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D011634:Public Health; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter