We used a case-crossover approach to assess the association between air pollution and daily mortality in Shanghai from June 2000 to December 2001. By design, this method can avoid some common concerns about the time-series approach, which was most frequently used to assess the short-term effects of air pollution. Different control periods (unidirectional and bi-directional control samplings) we...

Early concerns regarding the health-related effects of air pollution originated from severe episodes in Meuse Valley, Belgium, in 1930; Donora, Pennsylvania, in 1948; and London, in 1952. Although the overall effects of these episodes continue to be debated, well-documented, episode-related increases in morbidity and mortality from cardiopulmonary causes provided dramatic evidence that extremel...

Worldwide, the problem of air pollution is heterogeneous in its sources and in the populations affected, but consistent in that there is an urgent need for action. In this Comment, we address whether framing air pollution as a human rights issue would more quickly and efficiently motivate and direct actions than what is done at present. We conclude that rights-based approaches merit deeper cons...