We’re used to think at the air pollution like a serious damage for our physical health, but it could have serious impacts on intelligence too. According to a new study, being exposed to airborne particulate matter could cause significant falls in test scores for language and arithmetic.
Although the researchers has worked in China, the report is good for all the countries, because 91 per cent of mankind live in areas with dangerous air that is now the fourth-highest cause of deaths in the world, as the WHO said.
It has been estimated that in only UK air pollution causes 50,000 deaths a year, so the European Commission referred the British government to court for breaching EU air quality rules.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; it needed four years to analyze more than 20,000 people of all ages. According to the researchers, a long exposure to poor air could provoke a degradation of cognitions, leading degenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s) to increase their risk.
«Polluted air may impede cognitive ability as people become older, especially for less educated men – the authors say – The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions».
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