What every Californian should know about air pollution and health

 

Air pollution costs lives and moneyambulance icon

1. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is a major environmental risk to health and is estimated to cause approximately 2 million premature deaths worldwide every year. (1)

2.  The number of premature deaths resulting from air pollution is now at levels comparable to deaths resulting from traffic accidents and second-hand smoke. (2)

3.  Health impacts from air pollution exposure—such as premature deaths and illnesses—costs the state of California $28 billion annually. (3)

4.  Breathing air in polluted metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles can reduce your life expectancy by 2-3 years on average. (4)

 

Air pollution adversely affects our childrenfamily icon

5. Toxic air pollution is an even bigger problem for children, in part because children’s lungs are still developing, and because they breathe at a faster rate than adults. (5-6)

6. Children exposed to a higher amount of air pollution are five times more likely to have underdeveloped lungs by the age of 18. (7)

7. The number of asthma cases in the United States has increased by more than 75% since 1980, due largely to air pollution. (8)

8. Asthma is a leading cause of school absenteeism. (9)

 

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9. Motor vehicles and other mobile air pollution sources, such as ships, trucks, trains, buses and even lawn mowers, account for about 94% of the cancer risk in the Greater Los Angeles region—with stationary sources such as power plants, factories and dry cleaners accounting for only about 6%. (10)

10. Diesel exhaust from trucks, ships, trains and buses contains more than 40 substances listed as hazardous air pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (11)

11. In bumper-to-bumper traffic, outside pollutants can seep inside your car, making the air you breathe up to 10 times more polluted than typical city air. (12)

12. Every day that a ship sits at a port dock unloading its cargo, it releases an entire ton of toxic, smog-forming pollutants. More than 4,000 tons of these pollutants—the equivalent of approximately 115,000 vehicles—are produced each year at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. (13)

13. Studies show that people who live, work or go to school near freeways, high-traffic roads, seaports and rail yards are generally at a greater risk for cancer and decreased lung function due to the higher concentration of air pollution. (14-18)

14. People living near a major road or highway can develop twice the risk of a heart attack due to air pollution, when compared to those who live farther from traffic-induced pollution. (19)

 

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15. Even if you don’t smoke cigarettes at all, your lungs or heart may be similarly damaged simply from exposure to ozone and particulate matter. The American Heart Association recently declared that air pollution’s impact on cardiovascular disease “represents a serious public health problem.” (20)

16. If air pollution in California were reduced to the state’s eight-hour ozone standard (0.070 ppm) and annual state standard for particulate matter, an excess of 4.7 million school absence days and 1.4 million work days could be avoided every year. (21-22)

17. Exercising outdoors during high levels of smog or other air pollution can lead to exacerbation of asthma, decreased lung function and even DNA damage. (23)

18. Since people spend at least 80% of their lives indoors, it is recommended to limit the use of indoor cleaning products—particularly those that are lemon or pine scented—on days with high air pollution. These products can react with ozone particles in the air and produce formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent. (24-25)

19. Breathing cleaner air increases your life expectancy! (26)

 

1 World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/index.html

2 Health Effects of Particulate Matter and Ozone Air Pollution.”  Arb.ca.gov. Nov. 2007.  California Air Resources Board.  March 2009. http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/health/fs/pm_ozone-fs.pdf

3 Sahagun, L.  “California Economy Loses $28 Billion Yearly Due to Health Effects of Pollution.”  Los Angeles Times.  Nov. 13, 2008.

4 Pope, C. et al.  “Lung cancer, cardio-pulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution.”  Journal of the American Medical Association.  Vol. 287 (2002): 1132-1142..

5 American Academy of Pediatrics.  “Ambient Air Pollution: Health Hazards to Children.”  Pediatrics.  114(6).  Dec. 2004

6 The Challenge: Breathing Smog and Soot Are Dangerous to Health.”  Edf.org.  Nov. 2007.  Environmental Defense Fund.  March 2009.  http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=6067

7 Health Effects of Diesel Exhaust Particulate Matter.”  Arb.ca.gov. Mar. 2006.  California Air Resources Board.  March 2009. Pp. 2-3. http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/diesel/dpm_draft_3-01-06.pdf

8 Asthma and Air Pollution.”  Arb.ca.gov. March 2006. California Air Resources Board.  http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/asthma/asthma.htm

9 California Department of Education.  “Guidelines for the Management of Asthma.”  December 9, 2004.

10 South Coast Air Quality Management District.  “Mates III Study.”  September 2008.  Pp ES-2.

11 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scientific Review Panel.  “The Report on Diesel Exhaust.”  As adopted at the Panel’s April 22, 1998 meeting.

12 ”Don’t Breath and Drive.”  Environmental Health Perspectives.  109(9).  September 2001.

13 Patton, V. et al.  ”Smog Alert: How Commercial Shipping Is Polluting Our Air.”  Environmental Defense Fund.  2004.  Pp. 18, 20.

14 Mack, Thomas.  Cancer in the Urban Environment.  Keck School of Medicine, USC.

15 Kim, Janice J. et al.  “Traffic-Related Air Pollution near Busy Roads: The East Bay Children’s Respiratory Health Study.”  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.  Vol. 170.  2004.  pp 520-526.

16 ARB.  “Roseville Rail Yard Study.”  Stationary Source Division.  October 14, 2004.

17 South Coast Air Quality Management District.  “Mates II Study.”  March 2000.  pp 7-1.

18 Guaderman, W.J. et al.  “The Effect of Air Pollution on Lung Development from 10 to 18 Years of Age.”  New England Journal of Medicine.  Sept. 9, 2004.  Vol. 351, No. 11.  pp. 1057-67.

19 Barclay, Laurie.  “Traffic May Increase Risk of Heart Attack.”  Medscape.com. New England Journal of Medicine.  Oct. 2004.  351:1716-1718. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/491674

20 Brook, Robert D. et al.  “Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease.”  Circulation.  American Heart Association.  June, 2004. pp. 2655-2671.

21 “Health Effects of Particulate Matter and Ozone Air Pollution.”  Arb.ca.gov.  Nov. 2007.  California Air Resources Board.  March 2009. http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/health/fs/pm_ozone-fs.pdf

22 “Review of the Ambient Air Quality for Ozone.”  Arb.ca.gov.  May 2006.  California Air Resources Board.  March 2009. http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/aaqs/ozone-rs/ozone-rs.htm

23 Paauwe, Gennet.  “Air Pollution Episodes Especially Harmful to Athletes, Outdoor Workers.”  Air Resources Board.  California Environmental Protection Agency News Release.  July 24, 2008. 

http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/nr072408.htm

24 Fifty Things You Can Do.”  Arb.ca.gov.  Feb. 2009.  California Air Resources Board.  March 2009.  http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/50things.htm

25 Fact Sheet: Indoor Cleaning Products and Air Quality.”  Arb.ca.gov.  October 2008.  California Air Resources Board.  March 2009. http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/cleaning_products_fact_sheet-10-2008.pdf

26 Pope III, C. Arden, et al. “Fine-Particulate Air Pollution and Life Expectancy in the United States.” New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 360. 378-386. Jan. 22, 2009. Number 4. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/4/376