Posts Tagged: asthma
Latinos disproportionately impacted by air pollution
Latinos are among those facing the greatest risk from efforts to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updates to health safeguards protecting Americans from ozone, mercury and other dangerous air pollutants, according to a report from the National Latino Coalition on Climate Change, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.The report highlights air pollution in states that are home to more than 75 percent of Hispanic Americans: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
One out of two Latino Americans already live in counties where the air is frequently unsafe for kids and adults to breathe. The researchers said that clean air is needed, and blocking efforts to strengthen air pollution safeguards hits Hispanic Americans who pay the price for dirty air. The growing U.S. Latino population, which includes millions who are uninsured, faces serious health and financial burdens brought on by air pollution.
Key findings in the report include the following:
- Hispanics became the largest minority group in 191 metropolitan districts last year, with the highest expansion in areas of concentrated vehicle traffic, industry, and power plant activity. Roughly one out of every two Latinos live in areas that frequently violate clean air rules.
- As of 2008, 4.7 million Hispanics had been diagnosed with asthma. In their lifetime, Latinos are three times more likely to die from asthma than other racial or ethnic groups.
- Exposure to air pollution can aggravate preexisting health problems – especially respiratory problems like asthma. For millions of uninsured Latinos, this can lead to additional emergency room visits in the absence of primary care.
- The pending EPA mercury rule is critical to public health and would protect the nearly 40 percent of Latinos living within 30 miles of a power plant.
Clean air rules are good for health and the health of the economy. The EPA projects that the proposed mercury and air toxics standards will create up to 31,000 short-term construction jobs and 9,000 long-term utility jobs, as workers are hired to bring power plants into compliance. Considering that, on average, Hispanic workers occupy two out of every three new construction jobs in the United States, these standards could bring relief to thousands of Latino families suffering under the economic downturn.
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council, “US Latinos and Air Pollution: A Call to Action”, August 19, 2011.
Polluted air may contribute to farmworkers diabetes risk
The Sacramento Bee picked up on a UC news release about the most recent issue of California Agriculture journal, which said more than 1 million California farmworkers face a higher risk of diabetes and respiratory disease because of poor air quality.
The news release says California's Central Valley has the highest recorded levels of particulate matter in the country. The polluted air results in increased rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. In addition, the release said research points to possible environmental links between pesticide exposure and the risk of diabetes.
In a sample of 1,300 Mexican Americans who participated in the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted from 1982 to 1984, higher levels of organochlorine compounds, which are found in pesticides, were observed in the blood of adults with self-reported diabetes compared to those without diabetes, according to the Cal Ag article.
"However, due to the cross-sectional design of the study, it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship between pesticide exposure and diabetes, or what the nature of that relationship may be," according to the article.
That said, perhaps the Sacramento Bee headline - "Farmworker diabetes risk linked to bad air" - is overstated.
The UC release also appeared on Yubanet.com.
The January to March issue of California Agriculture journal.