Dorany Pineda, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States, according to a new study.
The paper, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, found that from 2006 to 2020, long-term exposure to tiny particulates from wildfire smoke contributed to an average of 24,100 deaths a year in the lower 48 states.
“Our message is: Wildfire smoke is very dangerous. It is an increasing threat to human health,” said Yaguang Wei, a study author and assistant professor in the department of environmental medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Other scientists who have studied the death toll from wildfire smoke were not surprised by the findings.
Read more at https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-smoke-deaths-climate-change-pm25-0791cd732dc63198e7cc30c9bbbd2f4a