Skip to main content
Air PollutionPress Release

Press Release: New Lancet Study Challenges Covid-19-Air Pollution Link Claims

By 24th July 2020September 12th, 2022No Comments

Smokers, who inhale a large amount of Particulate Matter (PM) per cigarette, are under-represented in Covid-19 critical cases and deaths

A number of highly questionable studies, such as the one by Harvard (1), have tried to link PM air pollution with increased Covid-19 mortality.  A new study published in the Lancet (2) has confirmed “a lower frequency of critical cases and deaths in countries with a higher smoking prevalence.” This is consistent with data showing an inverse relationship between smoking and Covid-19 death rates identified in another study that is awaiting peer review (3).

ABD Environment Spokesman Paul Biggs said: “It’s along established fact that a smoker inhales 10,000 to 40,000 microgrammes of Particulate Matter from just one cigarette in a few minutes, which is the equivalent of breathing 50 to 200 days of PM in outdoor air, yet smokers are clearly under-represented in Covid-19 critical cases and deaths. Therefore the politically motivated claims of a link between Covid-19 and PM air pollution being used against motorised transport have no credibility.”

Smoking and smoking cessation studies continue to undermine the claims of early deaths and adverse health outcomes based on statistics derived from unreliable air pollution epidemiology.

Ends

Notes for Editors

(1) ABD PR: Unreliable Epidemiology Models Aid The War On Drivers:

Press Release: Unreliable Epidemiology Models Aid The War On Drivers

(2) The Lancet: A country level analysis measuring the impact of government actions, country preparedness and socioeconomic factors on Covid-19 mortality and related health outcomes:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30208-X/fulltext

(3) National Smoking Rates Correlate Inversely with Covid-19 Mortality:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.12.20129825v1

Leave a Reply