Fine particulates have numerous sources – not only traffic, which is currently under particular scrutiny. Reducing agricultural emissions could also considerably reduce the particulate levels that are hazardous to health, concludes a study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. The scientists calculated that especially in Europe and North America, the atmospheric fine particle concentration would decrease substantially by reducing ammonia (NH3) emissions by fertilizer use and animal husbandry. If agricultural emissions were 50 percent lower, more than 250,000 deaths per year, caused by air pollution, could be avoided globally. The results are published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, a journal of the European Geosciences Union.