Air pollution kills 3,400 people per year!

The Egyptian government estimates that air pollution kills 3,400 people each year, and causes 15,000 cases of bronchitis and 329,000 respiratory infections.

Because of car emissions and the lead smelting industry (which rings the City of Cairo), Cairo remains one of the world's most lead-polluted cities. Throughout the trip, people would remark at how much better they felt during weekends away from Cairo, but then had respiratory problems when they returned. A huge reason was the lead pollution, which is not a new story:

A 1997 New York Times article reported that airborne lead pollution reduced Egyptian IQs by 4 points.

A 1998-99 study by the Egyptian government began by stating that "leaded gasoline appears to be a principal source of general environmental lead pollution." The study cited a 1968 study that estimated that 90% of the atmospheric lead came "from automobile exhaust and that the increase in environmental [lead] levels was due mainly to emissions from leaded gasoline." The study concluded that after switching to unleaded gas in the Cairo governate only (but not the surrounding regions), the concentration of airborne lead pollution decreased by 13% a year.