车辆污染每年致400万儿童患哮喘，中国4大城市占高发率榜单前十

Vehicle pollution 'results in 4m child asthma cases a year'
车辆污染“每年导致400万儿童哮喘病例”

素材来源：卫报 翻译：世界播

Equivalent of 11,000 new cases a day occur worldwide due to toxic air from traffic, researchers say

研究人员称，全球每天因交通产生的有毒空气而引发的新病例有1.1万例

A baby with respiratory disease at a hospital in Beijing. ‘Governments must act now to protect children’, one expert said. Photograph: China Daily/REUTERS

北京一家医院的一名患有呼吸道疾病的婴儿。一位专家说，“政府现在必须采取行动保护儿童。”图片来源：中国日报/路透社

Four million children develop asthma every year as a result of air pollution from cars and trucks, equivalent to 11,000 new cases a day, a landmark study has found.

一项具有里程碑意义的研究发现，每年有400万儿童因汽车和卡车造成的空气污染而患上哮喘，相当于每天新增病例1.1万例。

Most of the new cases occur in places where pollution levels are already below the World Health Organization limit, suggesting toxic air is even more harmful than thought.

大多数新病例发生在污染水平已经低于世界卫生组织限值的地方，这表明有毒空气的危害比人们想象的还要大。

The damage to children’s health is not limited to China and India, where pollution levels are particularly high. In UK and Australian cities, the researchers blame traffic pollution for three-quarters of all new childhood asthma cases.

对儿童健康的损害不仅限于污染水平特别高的中国和印度。在英国和澳大利亚的城市，研究人员将四分之三的儿童哮喘新病例归咎于交通污染。

Canada has the third highest rate of new traffic-related asthma cases among the 194 nations analysed, while Los Angeles and New York City are in the top 10 worst cities out of the 125 assessed. Children are especially vulnerable to toxic air and exposure is also known to leave them with stunted lungs.

在分析的194个国家中，加拿大与交通有关的哮喘新病例比率位居第三，而在评估的125个城市中，洛杉矶和纽约市排在前10位。儿童特别容易受到有毒空气的影响，而且众所周知，暴露在有毒空气中会导致他们肺部发育不良。

The research, published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, is the first global assessment of the impact of traffic fumes on childhood asthma based on high-resolution pollution data.

这项研究发表在《柳叶刀·星球健康》杂志上，是首次基于高分辨率污染数据对交通尾气对儿童哮喘影响的全球评估。

“Our findings suggest that millions of new cases of paediatric asthma could be prevented by reducing air pollution,” said Prof Susan Anenberg, at George Washington University in the US. Asthma can cause deadly seizures.

美国乔治华盛顿大学教授苏珊•阿纳伯格表示：“我们的研究结果表明，通过减少空气污染，可以预防数以百万计的儿童哮喘新病例。”哮喘可导致致命的癫痫发作。

The key pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, is produced largely by diesel vehicles, many of which emit far more than allowed on the road even after the Dieselgate scandal. “Improving access to cleaner forms of transport, like electrified public transport, cycling and walking, would reduce asthma, enhance physical fitness, and cut greenhouse gas emissions,” said Anenberg.

主要污染物二氧化氮主要由柴油车产生，即使在柴油车门事件之后，许多柴油车的排放也远远超过了道路上允许的水平。阿纳伯格说：“提高使用更清洁交通工具，如电动公共交通、骑自行车和步行，将减少哮喘、增强体质和减少温室气体排放。”

“This landmark study shows the massive global burden of asthma in children caused by traffic pollution,” said Prof Chris Griffiths, at Queen Mary University of London and the co-director of the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, who was not part of the research team. “Asthma is only one of the multiple adverse effects of pollution on children’s health. Governments must act now to protect children.”

“这项具有里程碑意义的研究表明，交通污染造成了巨大的全球儿童哮喘负担，”伦敦玛丽女王大学的克里斯•格里菲斯教授表示，“哮喘只是污染对儿童健康的多重负面影响之一。政府现在必须采取行动保护儿童。”

The new study combined detailed NO2 pollution data with asthma incidence rates and population numbers. Many large studies have already shown a strong link between traffic pollution and childhood asthma and that pollution causes damaging inflammation. This data on risks was used to calculate the number of new cases around the world.

这项新研究结合了详细的二氧化氮污染数据、哮喘发病率和人口数量。许多大型研究已经表明，交通污染与儿童哮喘之间有着密切的联系，而污染会导致破坏性的炎症。这些关于风险的数据被用来计算全世界新病例的数量。

“From the weight of evidence, there is likely a strong causal relationship between traffic pollution and childhood asthma incidence,” said Ploy Achakulwisut, also at George Washington University and the lead author of the new study. “So we can be confident that traffic pollution has a significant effect on childhood asthma incidence.”

“从大量证据来看，交通污染和儿童哮喘发病率之间可能存在很强的因果关系，”乔治华盛顿大学的Ploy Achakulwisut说，他也是这项新研究的主要作者，“因此，我们可以确信，交通污染对儿童哮喘发病率有显著影响。”

The epidemiological evidence for NO2 being the key pollutant is the strongest. However, researchers cannot rule out that other pollutants also pumped out by vehicles, such as tiny particles, are also a factor as it is not possible to experiment directly on people.

NO2是主要污染物的流行病学证据是最有力的。然而，研究人员不能排除汽车排出的其他污染物也是一个因素，如微小颗粒，只是不可能直接在人身上进行实验。

“Childhood asthma has reached global epidemic proportions,” said Prof Rajen Naidoo, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and not involved in the study. It indicates that one in eight of all new cases is due to traffic pollution. “An important outcome from this study is the evidence that the existing WHO standards are not protective against childhood asthma.”

南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔大学的拉詹•奈杜教授没有参与这项研究，他表示：“儿童哮喘已达到全球流行病的程度。”研究表明所有新病例中有八分之一是由于交通污染。“这项研究的一个重要结果是，现有的世卫组织标准并不能预防儿童哮喘。”

The country with the highest national rate of childhood asthma attributed to traffic pollution is South Korea, with almost a third of all new cases blamed on vehicles. Japan and Belgium are in the top 10, along with six Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia.

韩国是全国因交通污染导致儿童哮喘发病率最高的国家，几乎三分之一的新病例都归咎于车辆。日本和比利时以及包括沙特阿拉伯在内的6个中东国家跻身前十。

Due to their high populations and pollution levels, the top three countries for the total number of new children getting asthma each year are China (760,000), India (350,000) and the US (240,000). The scientists said their research may underestimate the true levels in many poorer nations where asthma often goes undiagnosed.

由于人口众多、污染严重，中国（76万）、印度（35万）和美国（24万）是每年新出生儿童患哮喘病总人数最多的三个国家。科学家们说，他们的研究可能低估了许多贫穷国家的真实水平，这些国家的哮喘往往没有得到确诊。

“While it is important for parents to try to reduce individual exposure, maybe by avoiding highly congested roads as much as possible, not everyone can do this,” said Achakulwisut. “So it is important to call for policy initiatives to tackle pollution at city, state and national levels.”

Achakulwisut说：“虽然家长们应该尽量避免过于拥挤的道路，从而减少个人接触空气污染，这一点很重要，但并不是每个人都能做到这一点。因此，呼吁在城市、州和国家层面采取政策举措，解决污染问题，是很重要的。”

“The good news is that a transition to zero-emission vehicles is already underway,” she said. Some countries and cities are pledging to phase out internal combustion engines and policies such as London’s new ultra-low emission zone are being rolled out. “But this transition needs to become global, and it needs to happen faster. Each year of delay jeopardises the health of millions of children worldwide.”

她说：“好消息是，向零排放汽车的过渡已经开始。”一些国家和城市承诺逐步淘汰内燃机，伦敦新的超低排放区等政策也正在推出。“但这种转变需要全球化，而且需要更快地实现。每延误一年都会危及全球数百万儿童的健康。”

Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: “We used to think the only real danger roads posed to children was the threat of a car accident. However now we can see there’s an equally deadly risk: breathing in air pollution. Rightly, there’s been a huge effort to reduce road accidents and we need to see an equal commitment to reducing toxic air.”

英国肺脏基金会首席执行官彭妮•伍兹表示：“我们过去认为，道路对儿童构成的唯一真正危险是车祸的威胁。然而，现在我们可以看到同样致命的风险：吸入空气污染。可以说，我们已经做出了巨大的努力来减少交通事故，我们同样需要付出同样的努力来减少有毒空气。”