BEFORE you take your next breath, bear in mind it could kill you.

According to a new study, air pollution is ending three million lives prematurely each year.

And the frightening revelations led some of Australia’s top medical experts to call for the government to adopt policies and legislation to reduce air pollution.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany found outdoor air pollutants can penetrate deep into the lungs and contribute to serious diseases with long-term health impacts.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Nature, say the main culprits in the air are produced from heating and cooking.

Known as PM2.5 — particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter — scientists estimate this air pollution has led to more than 3.2 million premature deaths globally — and they predict this figure could go as high as 6.6 million by 2050.

Most of these deaths occurred in developing countries where populations were high and air quality was poor from heavy industry.

The study says in China alone pollutants from solid fuel such as coal and biomass used for heating and cooking, local waste disposal and diesel generators account for 40 per cent or 1.36 million deaths.

They also account for between 50 to 70 per cent of deaths in India and other Asian nations.

In some countries, emissions from traffic and power generation were linked to premature deaths, while in the eastern part of US, Europe, Russia and East Asia, farming practices, including chemicals from fertilisers were the largest contributors.

The study did not examine Australia, but Professor Jos Lelieveld, director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Department at the institute and lead author of the study believed around 280 people died early each year as a result of air pollution.

“In Australia air quality is typically better than other continents,” he said.

“Nevertheless, for Australia we calculate 280 premature deaths per year, of which nearly 100 are due to biomass burning emissions.”

Researchers used a global atmospheric chemistry model combined with population data and health statistics to estimate air pollution’s contribution to early deaths.

They also say around a million lives could be saved every year by reducing exposure and a further 3.54 million lives per year could be saved by lowering indoor exposure.

They recommended countries switch to cleaner fuels or electricity.

In a joint statement, Dr Christine Cowie and Professor Bin Jalaludin, both medical experts from the University of New South Wales, said the study was a wake-up call for governments.

“This study is further demonstration of the need to adopt policies and legislation which help to minimise air pollution from all sources, particularly fine particles,” it said.

“Different approaches will be required to tackle the sources of fine particles in different regions of the world. Even in countries with good air quality such as Australia, there is still a health gain to be made by reducing fine particle pollution.”

Associate Professor Adrian Barnett from Queensland University of Technology said while the paper identified two major pollutants it failed to fully consider traffic pollution, the main cause of air pollution in Australia.

“We could avoid many of these future and current deaths if we used cleaner ways to create heat and energy.

“The paper did not fully consider pollution due to traffic, which is the main cause of air pollution exposure in Australia,” he said.

Professor Ian Rae from the University of Melbourne, Former President of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and an adviser to the United Nations Environment Programme on chemicals in the environment said the results were “sadly predictable”.

“This is a broader study than most so the numbers are larger,” he said. “However, the results are sadly predictable — illness and death (morbidity and mortality, to use the professional terms) are greater in places with filthy air.

“A number of Australian studies over the last two decades have implicated fine particles and gaseous pollutants like ozone, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides as the main culprits and given estimates of morbidity (often based on hospital admissions) and mortality,” he said.

The authors of the study say that based on their projections premature mortality from outdoor air pollution could double by 2050, with 6.6 million premature deaths forecast globally per year, including large increases in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific.