Originally published June 28 2005
Researchers find poor black communities in Maryland at greater risk of cancer from air pollution
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers found that Maryland communities consisting of mainly poor, black families had a greater exposure to air toxins and pollutants than other communities, Science Daily reports, and therefore, members of these communities are at a greater risk of developing some types of cancers.
"The inequity in risk from air toxins shown by this study represents yet another public health strike against that segment of Maryland's population that can least afford it," said Benjamin Apelberg, MHS, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology.
The researchers compared cancer risk estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Air Toxics Assessment to the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of Maryland communities found in the 2000 U.S. Census.
The EPA's assessment of lifetime cancer risk, which is based on exposure to 29 toxic air pollutants, is based on a nationwide inventory of sources and emissions and accounts for atmospheric transport of the pollutants, human activity patterns and the carcinogenic potency of the air pollutants.
In addition,communities with higher proportions of African-American residents were three times more likely to be at a heightened risk.
Four categories of air toxins---major emissions sources; area emissions sources; on-road vehicle sources; and non-road sources---were included in the EPA's cancer risk assessment.
Vehicle emissions of air toxins from on-road automobiles had the highest impact on cancer risk in Maryland, followed by non-road mobile sources such as construction vehicles and farm equipment, and by area sources such as local automobile repair shops and dry cleaning facilities.
Significant and consistent disparities in risk by income and race were found for on-road vehicle emissions and area sources.
It is widely accepted that low-income and minority communities face a disproportionate number of stressors and are more likely to have poorer health.
"Socioeconomic and Racial Disparities in Cancer Risk from Air Toxics in Maryland" was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Johns Hopkins Center for Urban Environmental Health and the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund.
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