Originally published January 19 2006
Illinois county suffers from unclean air produced by giant factory
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Journal Star reports that Archer Daniels Midland Co. is largely responsible for the poor air quality of two South Side Peoria tracts that were listed among the 20 worst areas in Illinois by the Associated Press' recent health study.
The two South Side Peoria census tracts listed as among the 20 worst areas in Illinois with unhealthy air don't harbor a factory emitting toxic pollutants.
The southwest corner of the square borders an industrial area not far from ADM, which in 2003 legally emitted almost 460 tons of pollutants into the air, including lead, zinc, mercury, hydrochloric acid, methanol, sulfuric acid and vinyl acetate.
The Associated Press used a health risk score from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based on amounts of toxic pollution from factories compiled under the federal Toxic Release Inventory, as well as the path the pollution takes as it spreads through the air, the level of danger to humans posed by the chemicals and the population in the path of the exposure.
The data revealed the two toxic census tracts, and also ranked Peoria County 60th in counties nationwide for health risks because of industrial emissions.
The county risk is 51.9 times higher in Peoria County than the median for counties nationwide, according to the data.
The IEPA's air quality report provides greater accuracy than the Toxic Release Inventory, which was the basis for the AP study, it said.
The TRI "cannot be relied upon as an accurate measure of the air quality in a given area," and "does not provide a true assessment of health risk," the IEPA stated.
One had a median household income of $16,250, the other $19,167.
In both tracts, a majority of the children live in poverty, and a majority of the population is African-American.
Asked about the prevalence of asthma, known to be caused by air pollution, he said in 2001, 71 children in the city of Peoria were hospitalized for asthma.
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