=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #134
—June 20, 1989—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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FINE PARTICLES–PART 3: FEDERAL STANDARDS ALLOW DISEASE.
Particles in the air (smoke, dust, soot, haze) are more dangerous
to humans as the size of the particles decreases. Particles are
produced by the combustion of fossil fuels (especially coal, but
also oil and gasoline), and by burning garbage or hazardous
waste. In July, 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) officially recognized that small particles are more
dangerous than larger particles when the agency established air
quality standards for particles smaller than 10 micrometers in
diameter. A micrometer is a millionth of a meter and a meter is
about 39 inches.
Now, just two years later, an extensive medical study has shown
that human illness can result from particles in the air at levels
that fall within EPA guidelines. In other words, an area may meet
the federal requirements and yet still make residents sick.
The EPA standard is called PM-10, meaning it is an air quality
standard for “Particulate Matter” 10 micrometers or less in
diameter. (See FEDERAL REGISTER July 1, 1987, pgs. 24634-24669.)
The older standard was for total suspended particulate [TSP] and
it did not take into account the size of particles. The new
standard specifically recognizes that particles smaller than 10
micrometers in diameter are not filtered out by the nose and
throat and can pass into the large airways below the trachea. The
smallest particles, which are less than 2.5 micrometers in
diameter, are known as fine particles and they are the most
dangerous because they pass all the way to the bottom of the
lungs where they can move directly into the blood stream. (See
RHWN #131 [revised] and #132.] The federal air
quality standard does not distinguish fine particles from others, though
the existence of the PM-10 standard is recognition that small
particles are more dangerous than large ones.
The federal standard says that, averaged over a year’s time, an
area’s air should not contain more than 50 micrograms of PM-10
particles in each cubic meter of air; the 24-hour average is not
supposed to exceed 150 micrograms per cubic meter of air. A
microgram is a millionth of a gram and there are 28 grams in an
ounce.
For the past decade, researchers at Harvard University have been
studying the relationship of human health to particles in air;
their work has been supported by the federal Department of Energy
(DOE) which plans to burn coal on a massive scale (since nuclear
power is, deservedly, on the ropes). The Harvard researchers have
issued periodic reports on their work; the most recent one
appeared in March, 1989. This study examined 8131 grade school
students in six U.S. cities during the period 197479, and
examined the same students again in 1981-82. To avoid
complexities of age and race, only 5422 white students aged 10 to
12 were the final subjects of study. The cities were
Steubenville, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; Kingston, Tennessee;
Portage, Wisconsin; Topeka, Kansas; and Watertown, Massachusetts.
The students were asked about bronchitis, persistent cough, chest
illness, wheeze and asthma. Bronchitis required a doctor’s
diagnosis within the last year; chronic cough was defined as
being present for three months during the past year; chest
illness required restriction of activity for 3 days or more;
wheeze was defined as wheeze apart from colds or for most days
and nights during the past year; asthma required the reporting of
a doctor’s diagnosis. The Harvard researchers also asked about
three symptoms they didn’t expect to be related to air pollution:
earache, hay fever, and nonrespiratory illness or trauma that
restricted activities for 3 days or more.
The Harvard researchers did not collect data specifically on
particules below 10 micrometers in diameter; they collected data
(starting in 1978) on PM-15 (particulate matter less than 15
micrometers in diameter). The annual average PM-15 readings were
as follows:
The least polluted city was Portage, WI (10 micrograms, or ug);
then came Watertown, MA (26 ug), Topeka, KS (33 ug), St. Louis,
MO (38 ug), Kingston, TN (42 ug), and finally Steubenville, OH
(59 ug), the most polluted. Boys and girls in the more polluted
cities were twice as likely to have bronchitis, compared with
youngsters in the less polluted cities. Similar results were
apparent for chronic cough and chest illnesses.
These results are important because in the most polluted city
(Steubenville) the annual average particle count was 59
micrograms per cubic meter and this was a PM-15 measurement; if
only particles 10 micrometers or smaller had been counted, the
readings would have been substantially lower. In every other city
in the study, the measured [PM-15] pollution levels were below
the allowable federal PM-10 standard, yet children in those
cities reported excessive disease rates. “We found health effects
occurring at levels below the current annual average PM-10
standard,” of 50 micrograms per cubic meter, says Douglas
Dockery, leader of the Harvard study. This study provides
unmistakable evidence that the federal standard for particles is
inadequate to protect public health and safety.
The Harvard researchers say their results are important for
another reason: there is some evidence that chest ailments during
childhood predispose a person to permanent, serious breathing
problems, like emphysema, in later life.
The study revealed that the 571 students (10.5% of the total)
with asthma or persistent wheeze were particularly susceptible to
bronchitis. Bronchitis was reported among 25.5% of the children
with asthma or wheeze versus 4.0% of those without; for chronic
cough the rates were 29.5% versus 3.2% and for chest illness
36.5% versus 7.6%.
When compared separately, those children without asthma or wheeze
in the most polluted city were 2.2 times as likely to have
bronchitis as non-asthmatics in the least polluted city; those
children with asthma or wheeze in the most polluted city were 3.8
times as likely to have bronchitis, compared to asthmatics in the
least polluted city.
An important point of this study is that it confirms that the
relationship between particles in the air and childhood disease
is “linear,” which means that the more particles in the air, the
more disease there is. This means that ANY increase in particles
in the air is likely to cause disease in someone, somewhere.
Thus, an incinerator proposing to spew particles into the air is
very likely doing so at the expense of some innocent bystander
somewhere. The defense, “I’m meeting all applicable state and
federal standards” isn’t sufficient to prevent illness. Even when
a polluter meets those standards, someone will most likely get
sick. Who gave polluters the right to make us sick? We, the
people, didn’t. It must have been someone else. Let’s find out
who and go after them.
Get: Douglas W. Dockery and others, “Effects of Inhalable
Particles on Respiratory Health of Children.” AMERICAN REVIEW OF
RESPIRATORY DISEASE, Vol. 139 (March, 1989), pgs. 587-594. For a
free reprint, write: Dr. D.W. Dockery, Department of
Environmental Science and Physiology, Harvard School of Public
Health, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: epa; pm-10; children; regulations; health
effects; air pollution; air quality standards; asthma; lung
diseases; particulates;