Washington Post: The killer responsible for more yearly deaths than AIDS, malaria, and TB combined
Editorial Board

“A major study published last month in The Lancet, a British medical journal, found that there is a global killer responsible for more yearly deaths than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined: pollution. … Harmful particulates, toxic chemicals, and smog-forming gases result from fuel burning, from primitive dung-fired cooking stoves to massive coal-burning power plants. These and other forms of pollution promote asthma, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and other maladies. Premature death is only one problem. Long-term impairment before death also results in human misery and material impoverishment. … [M]andating relatively cheap pollution controls or, when possible, simply taxing polluters for the damage they do can result in a good value proposition for developing and developed nations alike. … The Lancet study should remind leaders in the United States and elsewhere that, though there are costs associated with restricting pollution, countries also incur costs by failing to do so. Finding the right balance requires acknowledging both sides and weighing them carefully” (11/7).