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STUDY * USA - Pollution & Deads by
Pollution quietly kills many in valley
Modesto,CAL,USA -The Modesto Bee -November 16, 2008: -- We're reminded often of the dangers on the road... But when someone dies prematurely as a result of air pollution, who hears? Worse, who seems to care?... Specifically, the researchers compared vehicle deaths with the harmful effects of PM2.5, the tiny particulate matter emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles, diesel engines, wood burning, power plants and so forth... High levels of PM2.5 and ozone make people sick, causing adults to miss work and children to miss school. They send people to hospital emergency rooms, provoke bronchitis and asthma attacks and, in the worst cases, contribute to early deaths... In addition to the human toll, the cost of dirty air to families, hospitals and businesses in these regions totals $28 million annually... These sobering findings are part of an air pollution study released last week by Jane Hall and Victor Brajer, economics professors at California State University, Fullerton, and Frederick Lurmann of Sonoma Technology Inc... A new study on the costs of air pollution puts forth some startling numbers: In most counties in the San Joaquin Valley and the Los Angeles basin -- two of the most polluted regions in the country -- the number of people who die prematurely because of fine-particulate pollution exceeds the number dying in vehicle accidents each year... This study was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, not by an industry group or environmental advocacy organization. It comes just as the California Air Resources Board is poised to vote on landmark regulations designed to reduce emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks... If adopted by the board next month, the rules would require truck owners to install exhaust filters on their rigs starting in 2010. The rules also would require long-haul truckers to equip their vehicles with fuel-efficient tires and aerodynamic devices that lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy... A coalition of truck owners, farmers, building contractors and others want the rules relaxed and postponed, in large part because of the bad economic climate. There's no doubt the economy is bad, and the rules would have a big cost. But, according to this study, the cost of staying with the status quo is even higher...
Labels: pollution
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