To the Editor: Air pollution causes 3000 deaths each year in Australia.1 To put this in perspective: the national road toll in 2014 was 1153. Deaths from air pollution are due to both acute and chronic effects, and the principal diagnoses are of cardiac and respiratory disease. Reform of Australia's national air quality standards and regulatory mechanisms is currently underway, with the federal government calling for public consultation in the revision of the National Environmental Protection Measure (Ambient Air Quality) for particulates. Engagement in this consultation process requires that the risks be communicated in a way that the public can understand.
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- 1. Begg S, Vos T, Barker B, et al. The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007. (AIHW Cat. No. PHE 82.) http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=6442459747 (accessed May 2015).
- 2. Pope CA, Burnett RT, Thun MJ, et al. Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. JAMA. 2002; 287: 1132-1141.
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