The California Air Resources Board (ARB or Board)
conducted an exposure
assessment (study) to evaluate the impacts from airborne particulate
matter emissions
from diesel-fueled engines associated with port activities at the
Ports of Los Angeles
and Long Beach (ports) located in Southern California. The purpose
of the study was to
enhance our understanding of the port-related diesel particulate
matter (PM) emission
impacts by evaluating the relative contributions of the various
diesel PM emission
sources at the ports to the potential cancer risks to people living
in communities near
the ports. This information will assist in the efforts underway
to reduce diesel PM
emissions at the ports by helping to identify the sources that
have the greatest impact
on potential cancer risks to nearby residents and by providing
a tool that will allow
evaluation of the impacts of measures planned and under development
that are
designed to reduce diesel PM emissions.
In
2006, the EPA raised the air quality standards on particulate
matter.
Many of the top health organizations in the
country believe the EPA did not go far enough in protecting our
health from airborne particulate pollution. Here is a September
29, 2006 letter
from the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee(CASAC) to the
EPA writing to " express our scientific concerns
regarding the public health and welfare implications of the EPA's
final primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards
for airborne particulate matter."
The
California Environmental Protection Agency's April 2006 plan
to curb port-related pollution. (pdf)
Health Effects of Diesel Exhaust Particulate Matter
California Environmental Protection Agency, Air Resources Board
Air Pollution Increases Risk of Infant Death
The
risk of respiratory death for infants 4 to 12 months of age exposed
to particulate matter for 2 weeks increases 7% to 12% per 10-µg/m3
of particulate matter. Infants 7 to 12 months of age exposed
to high levels of particulate matter for 6 months double their
risk of respiratory death.
Air Pollution's Impact On The Heart Is As Bad As
Having Been A Smoker
In a follow-up analysis of the most extensive study of its kind
on the long-term effects of air pollution on human health, researchers
have found that people living in U.S. cities face an increased
risk of dying from a heart attack as a result of long-term exposure
to air pollution. This increased risk was found to be as large
as that associated with being a former smoker. The new analysis
is published as a study in the rapid access issue of the journal
Circulation, published by the American Heart Association.
