Brauer and his partner focused the study on deaths related to fine particulates, which are deeply embedded in Chinese-made goods. (Photo : Getty Images)
Products made in China may be cheap and plentiful, but they have also caused the death of over 700,000 people in 2007, USA Today reported.
The data was gleaned from a new study published in the most recent issue of Nature, which also revealed that 11 percent of deaths related to Chinese air pollution were caused by products made in China and later used in the United States and Western Europe.
Coincidentally, the U.S. and western Europe are also the largest importers of Chinese-made goods.
“We may be benefitting from lower prices, but they may be coming at the expense of someone else’s health,” Michael Brauer from the University of British Columbia, wrote in the report he co-authored. “There is no free lunch.”
Brauer and his partner focused the study on deaths related to fine particulates, which are deeply embedded in Chinese-made goods. These contaminants are microscopic in size and have been linked by scientists to diseases such as lung cancer and stroke. Fine particulates are abundant in China’s polluted air and are considered as deadlier than ozone.
According to the study, approximately 3.5 million people around the globe have been killed by fine particulates in 2007, with almost a quarter of the incidents related to imported goods. For instance, 238,000 deaths are linked to products made in China.
For the researchers, the trade and movement of imported goods are a culprit behind these air-pollution deaths. To help curb these incidents, Dabo Guan, Brauer’s co-author from Tsinghua University and the University of East Anglia in Britain, encourages shoppers to invest in more durable, quality items.
“We need to make sustainable consumerism the fashion,” he said.
Surprisingly, President Trump’s planned tariffs and “America first” policy might also help reduce deaths caused by trade-related air pollution.
“Now you can see what sort of jobs have been moving from the U.S.A. and Europe to China and India and Asia,” Jos Lelieveld from Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, said. “They’re associated with pollution."
