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475 Deaths Each Year From
Contaminated Air; Study Shows
Everyone knows the air in Costa
Rica is bad. The contamination
in San José is double of what is
breathed in most cities in
Europe. And now there are
numbers to back up that
statement.
The first study to determine the
cost of the contamination was
undertaken. Using data from
2001, during a 365 day period,
475 people died of the effects
of contamination in the air.
The study took into account all
areas of the country and experts
say that the numbers in
following years, including 2005,
won't vary much.
The study took into account
1.617.459 people or about 40% of
the population. The study
reports that 31.000 case of
bronchitis in children and
13.000 case of chronic
bronchitis were reported. The
report also cited 19.000 cases
of asthma, 550 cases of
respiratory disease, 266 cases
of cardiovascular damage, all as
a direct result of contaminated
air.
Authorities say that the cost of
the illness and deaths reported
are around ˘9 billion colones
(us$192 million dollars), a sum
that could be used to build and
equip seven hospitals or a new
highway between San Carlos, San
Ramon and Caldera on the Pacific
coast and still have some change
left over.
The solution, according to the
study is for the government to
continually monitor the
contamination in the air, at a
cost that would be around us$1.5
million dollars and approve laws
that would reduce the
contamination, similar to what
is being proposed to reduce the
high consumption gasoline.
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