Air pollution is the ‘new tobacco’, warns WHO head
世卫组织总干事称：空气污染如同“新型烟草”
（摘自卫报双语阅读）
2019年11月13日
Air pollution is the “new tobacco”, the head of the World Health Organization has warned, saying the simple act of breathing is killing 7 million people a year and harming billions more.
世界卫生组织总干事警告说，空气污染就如同一种“新型烟草”，简单的呼吸行为每年导致700万人死亡，数十亿人受到伤害。
Over 90% of the world’s population suffers toxic air and research is increasingly revealing the profound impacts on the health of people, especially children.
世界上90％以上的人口被有毒空气所影响，研究越来越多地揭示了其对人们，特别是儿童健康的深远影响。
“The world has turned the corner on tobacco. Now it must do the same for the ‘new tobacco’ – the toxic air that billions breathe every day,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general. “No one, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. It is a silent public health emergency.”
“烟草问题在世界范围内已经得到好转。现在它必须为‘新烟草’做同样的事情 —每天数十亿人呼吸的有毒空气。”世界卫生组织总干事特德罗斯·阿达诺姆·盖布雷耶苏斯说，“无论贫富如何，没有人能逃脱空气污染。这是一场悄无声息的紧急公共卫生事件。”
“Despite this epidemic of needless, preventable deaths and disability, a smog of complacency pervades the planet,” Tedros said, in an article for the Guardian. “This is a defining moment and we must scale up action to urgently respond to this challenge.”
“尽管这种不必要的，可预防的死亡和残疾大量发生，但我们星球上任然被自满的烟雾所笼罩。”特德罗斯在卫报的一篇文章中说道，“这是一个决定性的时刻，我们必须扩大行动，以紧急应对这一挑战。”
The WHO is hosting its first global conference on air pollution and health in Geneva next week, including a high-level action day at which nations and cities are expected to make new commitments to cut air pollution.
世界卫生组织将于下周在日内瓦举办首次全球空气污染与健康会议，其中包括一个高层行动日，预计各国和各城市将作出新的减少空气污染的承诺。
Children and babies’ developing bodies are most at risk from toxic air, said Dr Maria Neira, WHO director for public health and the environment, with 300 million living in places where toxic fumes are six times above international guidelines.
世界卫生组织公共卫生和环境主任玛丽亚内拉博士说，儿童和婴儿发育中的身体所受到有毒空气的威胁最大，有3亿人生活在有毒烟雾高于国际标准六倍的地方。
“Air pollution is affecting all of us but children are the most vulnerable of all,” she said, noting the alarm among child health experts about the links between toxic air and respiratory diseases, cancer and damaged intelligence. “We have to ask what are we doing to our children, and the answer I am afraid is shockingly clear: we are polluting their future, and this is very worrying for all us.”
“空气污染正在影响我们所有人，但儿童是最脆弱的。”她说道，并指出儿童健康专家对有毒空气和呼吸系统疾病，癌症和智力受损之间的联系感到震惊。“我们不得不问我们对孩子们做了什么，我最担心的答案非常非常之清楚：我们正在污染他们的未来，这对我们所有人来说都非常令人担忧。”
Tedros said “A clean and healthy environment is the single most important precondition for ensuring good health. By cleaning up the air we breathe, we can prevent or at least reduce some of the greatest health risks.”
特德罗斯说：“干净健康的环境是确保身体健康的最重要前提。通过清理我们呼吸的空气，我们可以预防或至少减少一些最大的健康风险。”
The WHO is working with health professionals not only to help their patients, but also to give them the skills and evidence to advocate for health in policy decisions such as moving away from fossil-fuel-powered energy and transport. “No person, group, city, country or region can solve the problem alone,” he said. “We need strong commitments and actions from everyone.”
世界卫生组织正在与卫生专业人员合作，不仅要帮助他们的患者，还要为他们提供技能和证据，以便在政策决策中倡导健康，例如摆脱化石燃料驱动的能源和运输。“任何人、团体、城市、国家或地区都不能单独解决这个问题，”他说，“我们需要每个人的坚定承诺和行动。”
In the UK, most urban areas have illegal levels of air pollution and ministers have lost three times in the high court after challenges over the inadequacy of their action. The latest government action plan, called “pitiful” by environmental lawyers, revealed air pollution was actually much worse than previously feared.
在英国，大多数城市地区都有非法的空气污染，部长们在高等法院因行动不足而面临三次失败。环境律师称之为“可怜”的最新的政府行动计划显示，空气污染实际上比以前所担心的要糟糕得多。
Globally, with smoking on the decline, air pollution now causes more deaths annually than tobacco. However, researchers think the harm known to be caused by air pollution, such as heart attacks and lung disease, is only “the tip of the iceberg”.
在全球范围内，随着吸烟率的下降，空气污染现在每年造成的死亡人数超过烟草。然而研究人员认为，已知由空气污染引起的危害，如心脏病和肺病，只是“冰山一角”。
（编辑：王曦泽）
