Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAH are organic compounds containing carbon and hydrogen. Of more than PAHs known to be widespread in the environment, 15 are listed in the Report on Carcinogens.
In addition to combustion, many industrial processes, such as iron, steel, and rubber product manufacturing, as well as power generation, also produce PAHs as a by-product. PAHs are also found in particulate matter.
The institute continues to fund and conduct research into how air pollution affects health and the population groups who are most affected.
Almost 9 out of 10 people who live in urban areas worldwide are affected by air pollution. Among its findings:. Your genes play a role in respiratory health. NIEHS-funded research discovered that people with specific gene variants , which made them more likely to have lung inflammation, had a greater chance of suffering from asthma if they lived close to major roadways.
Breathing dust from mine tailings, created by active and abandoned mining operations, affects lung function. NIEHS grant recipients address such health hazards in disadvantaged communities, such as Native American people in the West, through culturally relevant health communication. In this county, long-term improvements in air quality were associated with significant lung-function improvement in children.
The goal of the Natural History of Asthma with Longitudinal Environmental Sampling NHALES study is to help scientists understand how bacteria and other factors in the environment affect people who have moderate to severe asthma. Community-level tactics can help reduce exposure to TRAP:. Use the browser controls to adjust the font size, or print this page. Further Reading. Children, the elderly, and people in low-income neighborhoods experience disproportionate health effects from air pollution.
And there are striking geographic disparities. Some air pollutants - such as mercury in fish and dioxins in meat and dairy products - settle out of the air and get in our food, water, and soils. Find out how you can reduce air pollution where you live and work. Small, local sources like vehicles and lawn mowers combine to emit more air pollution than all the industrial sources in the state combined. Simple everyday actions can help prevent and reduce that impact. On any given day, the types and amount of pollution we breathe vary by our location, the time of day, and even the weather.
Proximity: Air pollution levels are higher the closer you are to an emissions source. For most of us, our highest exposure to air pollution occurs near busy roadways. But it could be a burn barrel or backyard fire pit, too. Recent findings, however, reflect how climate change—fueled wildfires and extreme heat are adding to the challenges of protecting public health.
The latest report—which focuses on ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution—also finds that people of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade in at least one of those categories, and three times more likely to live in a county that fails in all three.
In rankings for each of the three pollution categories covered by the ALA report, California cities occupy the top three slots i. You can check the air quality of your own city or state on this map. No one wants to live next door to an incinerator, oil refinery, port, toxic waste dump, or other polluting site. Yet millions of people around the world do, and this puts them at a much higher risk for respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, cancer, and death.
In the United States, people of color are 1. Historically, racist zoning policies and the discriminatory lending practices known as redlining have combined to keep polluting industries and car-choked highways away from white neighborhoods and have turned communities of color—especially poor and working-class communities of color—into sacrifice zones where residents are forced to breathe dirty air and suffer the many health problems associated with it.
In addition to the increased health risks that come from living in such places, members of these communities experience economic harm in the form of missed workdays, higher medical costs, and local underinvestment. Environmental racism isn't limited to cities and industrial areas. Outdoor laborers, including the estimated three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States, are among the most vulnerable to air pollution—and also among the least equipped, politically, to pressure employers and lawmakers to affirm their right to breathe clean air.
Recently, c umulative impact mapping , which uses data on environmental conditions and demographics, has been able to show how some communities are overburdened with layers of issues, like high levels of poverty, unemployment, and pollution.
In the United States, the Clean Air Act has been a crucial tool for reducing air pollution since its passage in , although fossil-fuel interests aided by industry-friendly lawmakers have frequently attempted to weaken its many protections. Ensuring that this bedrock environmental law remains intact and properly enforced will always be key to maintaining and improving our air quality.
But the best, most effective way to control air pollution is to speed up our transition to cleaner fuels and industrial processes. By switching over to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power , maximizing fuel efficiency in our vehicles, and replacing more and more of our gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric versions, we'll be limiting air pollution at its source while also curbing the global warming that heightens so many of its worst health impacts.
And what about the economic costs of controlling air pollution? According to a report on the Clean Air Act commissioned by NRDC, the annual benefits of cleaner air are up to 32 times greater than the cost of clean-air regulations.
When you can, walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation. For driving, choose a car that gets better miles per gallon of gas, or choose an electric car. Buying your food locally cuts down on the fossil fuels burned in trucking or flying food in from across the country.
This story was originally published on November 1, , and has been updated with new information and links. The global toll of premature deaths attributed to the burning of coal, gasoline, and diesel is breathtakingly high, with new research doubling previous estimates.
For 50 years the Clean Air Act has proved that health and prosperity go hand in hand. The landmark law is now under threat. The Trump administration failed to monitor air pollution in the toxic aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The air in southwestern Indiana is bad enough without the emissions from yet another proposed polluter. Ten years after the disaster at a Tennessee power plant, the cleanup crew is seeking justice.
At the same time, the Trump administration is weakening protections for this toxic pollution.
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