Outdoor Air Pollution and Your Health: What's the Cost?

2002
ISBN: 0-662-66779-4
Cat. No.: H46-2/02-286

Help on accessing alternative formats, such as PDF, MP3 and WAV files, can be obtained in the alternate format help section.

(235K)

Health and Air Quality - Bulletin

In Canada, we're becoming aware of the harmful effects of air pollution on our health. But what's the economic cost?

To understand both the human and financial burden, we have to look at the effects air pollution has on your health.

Effects on Your Health

Air pollution is linked to:

• reduced lung function
• respiratory symptoms
• doctor and emergency room visits
• new or recurring cases of respiratory illness
• hospital admissions
• increased medication use

Economic Cost

These health effects have a human, social and financial impact, costing Canadians several billion dollars per year. This concerns us all. So policy-makers across Canada and internationally are looking at options to help reduce the effects of pollution.

These options include new regulations.

For example, you might have heard the federal government is regulating the amount of sulphur in gasoline. This may result in increased costs to the industrial sector as production operations are changed to comply with new emission standards.

With reduced sulphur in the air, you could see:

• reduced health care costs and out-of-pocket expenses for illnesses related to air pollution
• increased productivity in the workplace
• improved quality of life
• fewer premature deaths resulting from air pollution

This is why policymakers continue to look at the costs and benefits of proposed actions like sulphur reduction. This helps determine which action
will have the most overall benefit for you.

Children, people with heart and lung disease, and seniors may be especially sensitive to air pollution

NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS INCREASE AS AIR POLLUTION WORSENS