Air Pollution
Pollutants in air we breathe can be bad for our health. Babies in the womb and children are especially vulnerable as their bodies are growing and developing. Urban air in particular is more polluted than in surrounding regions as street traffic is denser in cities; industry, bus depots, and sewage treatment plants are sited nearby residential areas; and typical urban living in apartment buildings spreads secondhand smoke easily to many non-smoking homes. Even fumes from heating fuels, cooking, and burning candles can build up indoors and be bad to breathe if apartments are not well ventilated. Asthma affects greater numbers of city dwellers than residents in non-urban areas. It is important to know how to protect yourself and your family from air pollution. Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to reduce harmful exposures at home. There are also clean air campaigns you can join to help lower air pollution levels in your community.
What We Know About Air Pollution
A lot of urban air pollution comes from heavy traffic. Trucks and buses are the worst polluters as they use diesel fuel, not gasoline. Diesel is a big polluter. Trucks and buses without new emission controls can put 50 times more pollution into the air than vehicles using gasoline. When diesel fuel burns, black carbon particles get into the air. The nose, throat, and lungs (upper respiratory system) can’t filter out black carbon particles because they are so small. These particles get deep into the lungs and can make breathing difficult. They can also contribute to increased allergies and asthma.
Studies at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health are showing that black carbon from street traffic comes indoors. Pollution measuring machines placed in homes of our study participants are measuring nearly the same amount of black carbon inside homes as is being measured outside homes. This means that we, and our children, are breathing pollution from bus and truck traffic even when indoors.
Pollution comes from inside our homes too. The pollution measuring machines used in our studies also measure tiny particles of pollution that come from indoor sources. We found more tiny particles of pollution indoors than outdoors called PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). They can be very dangerous to children’s health, increasing risk of asthma and cancer. PAHs get into the air when fuel is burned. Indoor sources of PAHs add to the pollution coming in from outside. Common indoor sources are home heating fuels, tobacco smoke, cooking blackened foods, and burning candles and incense.
Some PAHs are known to cause cancer. The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health’s studies of mothers and newborns are showing that babies exposed to higher levels of PAHs in the womb are born with damage to cells that could increase their risk of cancer.
PAHs & Secondhand Smoke Combined Increase Health Risks for Children
The Center’s studies are also showing that exposure to PAHs mixed with secondhand smoke makes children’s health worse. We found that all babies in our study of mothers and newborns in Washington Heights, Harlem, and the South Bronx were exposed to PAHs in the womb. But children who were also exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher risk of health problems.
Babies exposed to PAH chemicals in the womb AND secondhand smoke were typically not as healthy as babies who were exposed only to PAHs:
- Babies exposed to high levels of PAHs and secondhand smoke in the womb were born smaller than babies exposed to low levels and they also scored lower on tests of learning ability as 2-year-olds.
- Babies exposed to high levels of PAHs in the womb and secondhand smoke after birth coughed and wheezed more as 1-year-olds and they had more breathing problems and probable asthma diagnoses as 2-year-olds.
What You Can Do
Reduce PAHs at home
- Don’t smoke. And keep cigarette smoke away from children. Ask friends and relatives not to smoke near your child(ren) or in your home.
- Don’t burn, char, or blacken food. Use a kitchen fan while cooking. Limit the use of candles and incense in your homes.
Lower your own and your children’s cancer risk
- Eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables every day.
- Exercise regularly.
- Don’t smoke. And keep cigarette smoke away from children. Ask friends and relatives not to smoke near your child(ren) or in your home.
- Avoid excessive weight gain.
- Don’t eat burned, charred, or blackened foods.
Join community efforts towards cleaner air
Get involved with people in your neighborhood who are working to clean up the air. Community organizations coordinate effective clean air campaigns that are producing results. They are working to:
- Reduce air pollution from trucks and buses.
- Allow fewer trucks and buses in residential neighborhoods.
- Require trucks and buses to be equipped with new emission controls.
- Prevent trucks and buses from keeping their engines idling when they stop to make deliveries.
- Reduce air pollution from waste transfer stations and power plants.
- Monitor pollution sources closely, ascertaining that the most current pollution control devices are being used and that operations comply with code.
- Campaign to keep non-operational stations and plants closed.
- Work to keep new stations and plants from opening in and near residential areas.
- Increase residents’ environmental health awareness.
- Educate local residents about what is bad for their health and the Environment.
- Train local residents to advocate for themselves and their neighborhoods.
- Share knowledge of pollution sources and other relevant information with environmental and community groups citywide.
- Collaborate with researchers at nearby university to help learn about the health effects of pollution.
- Build more walking paths and local gardens.
Resources
More information on air pollution: