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I always wonder why they focus on the effects of say, a few beers, or someone who has a smoke in the morning.

Yet all the health problems caused by the very air we breath in cities, well that is fine.

It is studied, it’s not fine, it’s just not newsworthy at the moment. It’s barely newsworthy around here even when it exceeds legal limits.

This is just one source of the many examples I have read over the years painting a similar picture.

>> In the UK, 8.39% of deaths were due to pollution

It always seems pretty high.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/uk-has-one-of-the-worst-p...

At that level I assume it’s conflating “caused” and “contributed to”, and the language seems to be mixing air pollution with all other forms of pollution.

However, I cannot remember ever seeing a front page story on the topic when walking past the newspapers in the supermarket. (Not claiming there are zero front page headlines, but “Statins Do A Thing” and “Princesses Diana XYZ” swamp any about pollution).

Multiple European cities are planning on banning diesel cars for that reason, whereas nobody is planning on banning alcoholic drinks.

Perhaps because you can choose what you drink but not what you breathe.

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