Unbreathable: The Modern Problem of Air Pollution

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2015

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The shock news three months ago, that Volkswagen had used defeat devices to circumvent emissions tests in the United States, has brought back into the news a continuing problem of modern life - air pollution. The traces of pollutants coming out of tail pipes may seem to be little more than a nuisance, but it is actually a matter of life and death. One expert has estimated that this deception by Volkswagen has contributed to the deaths of 59 people in the States, their lives shortened by the damage nitrogen oxides have done to their bodies. A further 130 lives are at risk over the lifetime of the vehicles if nothing is done.

And air pollution comes from other sources as well as vehicles, such as fires and agriculture. Roland Pease looks into what can be done to clean up the air we breathe.

(Photo: Fumes blowing out from a car exhaust pipe)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading from the BBC.
0:03.0	The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use,
0:07.0	go to BBCworldservice.com slash podcasts.
0:11.0	The scale of the crisis engulfing... broadcasts.
0:17.0	The scale of the crisis engulfing Volkswagen has increased significantly after the German carmaker admitted that 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide
0:22.0	had been fitted with the same software used to cheat emissions
0:25.0	tests in America. Half a million cars were recalled in the United States because their engines
0:30.3	emitted far more pollutants when being driven normally than in test conditions.
0:35.4	The shock news three months ago that Volkswagen had used defeat devices to circumvent emissions
0:41.2	tests in the United States has brought back into the news a continuing
0:45.2	problem of modern life. Air pollution. The traces of pollutants coming out of tailpipes may
0:51.5	seem to be little more than a nuisance, but it's actually a matter of life and death.
0:57.0	One expert has estimated that this deception by Volkswagen has contributed to the deaths of 59 people in the United States, their lives
1:05.4	shortened by the damage nitrogen oxides have done to their bodies. A further 130 lives
1:11.2	are at risk over the lifetime of the vehicles if nothing is done.
1:15.0	A reminder of just how big an issue air pollution is worldwide.
1:20.0	I'm Roland Pease and in this edition of Discovery from the BBC I'll be looking into what can be done
1:26.0	about this major killer of the 21st century.
1:28.9	Most people are not aware.
1:30.9	It's a shocking number that about 3.3 million people per year die prematurely
1:36.9	because of air pollution and this is a shockingly large number.
1:41.5	This is Yoss Lelivel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in
	...

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