Study: California's Dirty Air Kills 9,300 a Year

Pollution from airborne soot and dust causes or contributes to the deaths of more Californians than traffic accidents, homicide and AIDS combined, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group of Oakland. Its analysis of state data compiled by the Office of Environmental Health Assessment found that respiratory illnesses caused or made worse by microscopic particles of soot and dust, called particulate matter or PM, are responsible for more than 9,300 deaths, thousands of hospital visits, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and millions of missed work days each year. The timing of the report's release is an effort to encourage Californians to offer input on proposed changes in the state's air pollution rules, says Bill Walker of the EWG. The California Air resources Board will vote on the new rules at its June 20 meeting, he says. Particulate air pollution is most severe in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area and the San Joaquin Valley. In the Valley, agriculture is a significant source of particulates, but most agricultural activities are exempt from federal and state air pollution rules. Statewide, 55 of 58 counties have average annual particulate levels that exceed the proposed state standards, the report says. Using the state's figures, the EWG applied what it calls standard formulas to determine the estimated economic impact. According to its conclusions, each year particulate air pollution is responsible for more than 16,000 hospital or emergency room admissions, at an estimated health care cost of $132 million. It says illnesses caused by particulate matter cause Californians to miss almost 5 million work days a year, a loss to the state's economy of more than $880 million.

Source: The Sacramento Business Journal 5/16/2002.