- 4 reads
Given that more than 45 million Americans live within 300 feet of a four-lane road, airport or railroad, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), together with the University of Michigan, will spend the next two years studying the health effects of air pollution on children living near the country’s busiest roads. It is expected that the study will aid in selecting locations for the building of roadways and schools, according to a July 7 announcement.
The study will look at the types of pollutants found near roadways, pathways of exposure, extent of exposures and the health effects. Specifically, researchers will investigate respiratory conditions in children with asthma associated with traffic-related pollution.
Among the questions researchers plan to answer is whether traffic exposure influences the likelihood or severity of respiratory viral infections. The EPA says the relationship between airborne pollutants and asthma-related respiratory problems is largely unexplored and could be significant in understanding the impact traffic-related air pollution has on health in general.
Pollution Near Schools
The extent of industrial pollution near thousands of schools nationwide was recently examined in a USA Today article, for which the authors received honors. In “The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America's Schools,” USA Today reporters Blake Morrison and Brad Heath partnered with scientists at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland to identify and organize toxic exposures children could potentially be facing at school.
The team used government data on industrial polluters near 127,800 schools to determine likely toxic hot spots. They found that the air around many schools could be twice or even ten times as toxic as the air in nearby neighborhoods. From the research, an online database was created where the public can search schools and retrieve an estimated comparison of air quality at schools.
On July 6, it was announced that the authors were granted the Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment by the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting and the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.
