Thank you for reporting on The Lancet’s findings that one in six premature deaths in the world is due to pollution (“Pollution is the top killer, study says,’’ The World, Oct. 21). This corrects the current undervaluing of antipollution regulation.

Yet on Oct. 6 the Commerce Department released its recommendations on streamlining and reducing regulatory burdens, which only looks at industry’s complaints. What our environmental protection system accomplishes is not assessed in that report.

In addition to the incalculable value of pollution control, pollution prevention has shown us how we can achieve far greater results with far less cost. Massachusetts has been one of the leaders in developing this new art, and residents should know that its Toxics Use Reduction Act has resulted in hundreds of millions of pounds of reductions. These reductions all made sense to the regulated community, because it was guided, not forced, to make the choices that resulted in cleaner production.

Reducing the burden of environmental regulations is a good idea, but the way to do it is to reinvest in the system and modernize it, not to tear it down and turn back the clock to dirtier times.

Rick Reibstein

Lexington

The writer is a lecturer in environmental law and policy at Boston University, and worked for the Commonwealth’s program in reducing use of toxics from 1989 to 2015.