There are places in the US where air quality is so poor that it can lead to serious health problems, but you wouldn鈥檛 know that if you took President Trump鈥檚 word for it. On 22 October, Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare that the US has 鈥渢he cleanest air in the world 鈥� by far鈥�.
His tweet included a map based on data gathered by the World Health Organization, showing the global distribution of PM2.5 鈥� air pollution consisting of particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter.
鈥淎merica: the Cleanest Air in the World 鈥� BY FAR!鈥�
鈥� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
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These fine particles come from vehicle exhaust, the burning of wood or heating oil, and power plants, as well as natural sources like wildfires and volcanic eruptions. They are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and aggravate respiratory problems like asthma. Long-term exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The map Trump tweeted stems from an April 2018 but included a label not present in the original: 鈥�91% of the world population (none in the U.S.) are exposed to air pollution concentrations above WHO suggested level鈥�.
That statement is simply false, as was pointed out by John Walke, an attorney who once worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is now director of the Clean Air, Climate & Clean Energy Program at lobby group the National Resources Defense Council.
Contrary to the president鈥檚 claim, , 45 US cities have PM2.5 pollution levels above those suggested for healthy air, according to the WHO data. These include some of the country鈥檚 most populous cities like Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Whether wilfully or unintentionally, Trump has misinterpreted WHO鈥檚 map. When taken in bulk, air pollution in the US may be lower than in other countries, but a country like the US with vastly varied land use 鈥� including urban areas, desert and nature reserves 鈥� cannot be summed up by one number.
When comparing urban areas across the world, the US has relatively clean air, but it is outpaced by countries including Australia, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand.
In 2016, nearly 94,000 deaths in the US were attributable to PM2.5 pollution, according to the . That puts聽the US in third place after China and India, which together account for more than half of the world鈥檚 deaths due to fine particulate matter.
鈥淭here is no safe level of exposure to PM2.5 pollution, which is deadly well below the US standard of 12 or the WHO level of 10 micrograms per cubic metre,鈥� said Walke.
And while Trump touts the greatness of US air quality, he is simultaneously overseeing the dismantling of environmental protections in favour of cost-saving measures for industry. He has eliminated the part of the Clean Air Act that places limits on cancer-causing pollutants, and the EPA is looking to reverse strict ozone standards brought in by the Obama Administration.
If that goes through, US cities will be plagued by yet more smog, further exacerbating PM2.5 pollution.
