Fact Check, Chris Wright Edition: Pollution Is, In Fact, Harmful to Humans

Washington, D.C.– Yesterday, Chris Wright claimed that carbon dioxide and other emissions, which are classified as pollutants harmful to human health, are not harmful to humans. Here are some facts on pollution that may be of interest to Wright, who once drank fracking fluid. 

Here are the facts: 

• Methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and it accounts for about one-quarter of global climate pollution. 

• Methane is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, exposure to which causes 1 million premature deaths every year.
• Atmospheric carbon dioxide is “the most dangerous and prevalent greenhouse gas” – and is at the highest levels ever recorded
• According to a 2025 study, rice, the world’s most consumed grain, will become increasingly toxic as the atmosphere heats and as carbon dioxide emissions rise, potentially putting billions of people at risk of cancers and other diseases.
• Nitrous oxide’s global warming potential is almost 300 times that of CO2 over a 100-year time scale.

• Nitrous oxide is considered to be a “super pollutant” and the most significant ozone-layer depleting substance emitted today.

• Efforts to reduce nitrous oxide emissions would improve air and water quality and protect food security, while improving human health.