Study: Air pollution cut northern China lifespans

In this Tuesday, May 7, 2013 photo, visitors to Tiananmen Gate wear masks during a day of heavy pollution in Beijing. Air pollution significantly shortens people’s life expectancy, according to a study published Tuesday that says bad air shortened the lives of 500 million people in north China by an average of more than five years. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)BEIJING (AP) — A new study links heavy air pollution from coal burning to shorter lives in northern China. Researchers estimate that the half-billion people alive there in the 1990s will live an average of 5½ years less than their southern counterparts because they breathed dirtier air.