This is your brain on air pollution

Air pollution knows no borders -- even in your own body, says public health expert María Neira. In this startling talk, she describes how the microscopic particles and chemicals you breathe affect all your major organs (including your brain) and calls on both the public and those in power to take action to stop the sources of pollution.

There is something we desperately need

that we cannot stop doing:

it is breathing.

Do you want to try?

Why don't we stop breathing together

for, let's say, even 10 seconds.

Is that OK?

Let's do it.

Get ready ... OK, now!

Oof, difficult, isn't it?

Well, this is an incredible number

that will again take your breath away:

seven.

Seven what?

Seven million premature deaths a year

caused by exposure to the bad quality
of the air we breathe.

Imagine -- it's like more than
the entire population of my dear Madrid

will be wiped out in one year.

And you may ask:

Has this information been disclosed?

Has this information
been publicized, distributed?

Well, yes.

We have at the moment
more than 70,000 scientific papers

examining the relationship
between air pollution and our health,

and the global media has been
regularly covering this issue.

In fact, in a relatively
short period of time,

we have come to know

that air pollution is having
a negative impact

on almost all our major organs.

Let's start by the lungs.

When we think about air pollution,
we always think about the lungs.

In fact, every time we take a breath,

we are inhaling toxic pollutants,

and our poor pink and lovely lungs

are suffering all of that.

Over the last 10 years,

we have put together a lot of knowledge
about what's happened to that,

but let me tell you first
what is air pollution.

OK, air pollution
is a very complex mixture

of solid particles,

liquid droplets

and gaseous chemicals.

Imagine all of this mixture

that might come from sources
like household fuel burning

or industry or traffic

or many other indoor and outdoor sources.

And, of course, different
sources of pollution

will make different
mixtures of pollutants.

The point is that all of these toxins,

they can be combined in different ways.

Let's take, for instance,
the particulate matter, the PM.

It can be a mixture that will include --

look at the cocktail here --

soil and road dust,

sea salt,

toxic metals,

diesel smog,

nitrates and sulfates,

and all of this toxic poison,
this delicious cocktail,

is going through our lungs every day,

and we are constantly exposed
to this air pollution

because we cannot stop breathing.

I mean, we can do it for 10 seconds,
but no more than that.

We cannot stop breathing

and, in addition,

we need, every day,
around 10,000 liters of air.

So we said that we have
seven million deaths

caused by air pollution every year.

Are we panicking?

Are we keeping calm?

Are we declaring a national disaster,
a global emergency?

Well, no, and in fact I'm asking myself
this question every day:

What is happening?

But here is something that maybe
will force us to react more quickly.

Air pollution is not just
affecting our lungs.

It's affecting our brain as well.

This is our brain.

Beautiful.

We all have it.

We all need it.

Hopefully, we all use it --

(Laughter)

some more than others.

And in the last 10 years of history,

the research about the relationship
between air pollution

and our brain's health

has been increased dramatically,

so maybe now our brain
is going up in smoke.

But let me tell you the evidence,

what we know so far
about air pollution in our brain.

First, there is an emerging
body of evidence

regarding the potential harmful effects

of air pollutants

into our central nervous system.

But let's go back to the toxic particles.

Remember?

We left them at the lungs,

enjoying life,

polluting everything.

But now the smallest of them,

they can cross into the bloodstream,

and from the bloodstream,
pumped by the heart,

they can reach the whole body,

threatening every organ,

including the brain.

We used to say that
air pollution has no borders,

and it's true as well within our bodies,

because air pollutants will cross
the placental barrier

and reach the fetus and alter
the cerebral cortex of our children

even before they take their first breath.

Second, several studies have suggested

that both prenatal and early childhood
long-term exposure to air pollution

will have a negative influence
on neural development,

will have lower cognitive test outcomes,

and there will be an influence as well,
a negative influence,

on some behavioral disorders like autism

and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder.

In addition to that, some evidence found

that exposing our children's
and young adults' brains

for a long time to particulate matter

will cause some reactions
like brain inflammation,

altering the neural response

and [also] leading to the influence
of more protein plaques

that are accumulating,

and those can increase
the risks for diseases

like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Ironic, isn't it:

we are investing in our children's future,

we are sending them to school
every day to expand their minds,

the society is investing
in their education,

and yet the air they breathe
while waiting for the school bus

is influencing negatively
the development of their brain.

Let's go to the third: What about adults?

According to recent scientific evidence,

long-term exposure to particulate matter
will cause a cognitive decline

in study participants as they age.

And not only that,

if you expose them to long-term,
very fine particulate matter,

their brain will age more rapidly,

and they will have higher odds

of having small, silent strokes.

The last one -- and I will not
give you more evidence,

because there is a ton of [it] --

some epidemiological studies
in animal models

have suggested that there might be
an increased risk of dementia

with sustained exposure to air pollutants.

So, almost everybody
is exposed to air pollution.

Whether you live in a rural area
or an urban area,

whether you live in a high-income country
or a low-income country,

everybody's brains, including yours,

are at risk.

As a medical doctor,

I have been dedicating
the last more than 20 years now

of my professional life

to raise awareness about
public health issues,

public health risks,

at the World Health Organization,

and I know that the knowledge is there
and the solutions as well.

Sure, some places
are more polluted than others,

but this a global issue,

and no individual, no city,
no group, no country, no region

will be able to solve it alone.

We need very strong commitments
and very strong action by everyone:

civil society,

private sector,

even individuals.

We all have a role to play.

Yes, we need to influence
the way we consume,

the way we commute,

the way we use our energy.

And the good thing is that
all of those solutions are available.

The question is, if we postpone
action by one day,

there might be thousands
of lives that we will lose,

but if we postpone it by one year,

we might be losing again seven million.

So every policy maker, every politician,

needs to be aware of
the consequences on human health

of postponing their decisions.

In fact,

this is not the first time in history

that we are confronted
with the risks of this invisible killer.

This was London in 1952,

and as was done in London
in the '50s and the '60s,

governments and cities,

they need to take urgent action to stop
the terrible impact of air pollution.

Every politician must know that delaying
what they call the tough actions,

like reducing traffic in cities
or investing in public transport

and engaging in promoting
cycling in cities,

investing in renewable energy,

promoting cleaner energy
for cooking, cooling

and transportation and heating

are solutions that are very smart,

because, in fact, they reduce emissions,

they improve air quality
in line with WHO standards,

which are the standards
that will protect ourselves.

So in fact, all politicians that we need
these very strong political commitments

and political will from,

but [we need] all of them now.

Those who fail, who postpone action,

they have been requested even
to defend their position in court.

And from now on,

no politician will be able
to say, "I didn't know."

So the question here is:

How many lives,

loss of quality of life

and losing our brain power

are we ready to accept?

If the answer is "none,"

I will request that you,

while our brains are still functioning,
while we are still intelligent,

please exercise your right,
put pressure on your politicians

and make sure that they take action
to stop the sources of air pollution.

This is the first thing we need to do
to protect yourself

and to protect our beautiful brain.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)