CARB Board Member Wants Upcoming On-Road Diesel Rule to Be Reviewed

The Fresno Bee reported on Wednesday that board member John Tellles of the California Air Resources Board is pushing for the looming on-road diesel emissions rule aimed at trucks and buses to be put on hold pending an independent review.

Apparently one of the researchers who contributed health research that the original 2008 ruling was based on, falsified his credentials. Hien Tran originally stated he had earned a doctorate from UC Berkeley. It was later uncovered that his degree is actually from an unaccredited online institution.

The regulation to go into effect in 2010 would require diesel on-road vehicles operating in California to reduce emissions of particulate matter (PM). This often requires retrofitting with a particulate filter that has been CARB verified specifically for use with on-road vehicles.

Tunnels Trap Toxic Cocktail of Particulates

A recent study by the Queensland University of Technology's International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health measured the concentration of ultrafine particulate matter found in the M5 East tunnel located in Sydney, Australia. Their findings show that a tunnel has the potential to trap levels of pollution so high as to be dangerous to travelers - particularly those driving older, less airtight vehicles, convertibles and motorcycles.

The effects of breathing in high concentrations of ultrafine particulate can range from minor respiratory problems to a heart attack in people with existing heart trouble. The study analyzed a large body of data and showed that at times, the levels were up to 1000 times higher than average urban ambient conditions.

Princeton Study Found Thousands Killed Each Year from Air Pollution

A recent study by a team of researchers from Princeton University has found that thousands of people around the world meet pre-mature death annually due to air pollution composed of microscopic particles. They estimate that 380,000 people are impacted and die due to particle pollution composed of diesel emissions, smoke from coal-fired power plants, as well as natural dust particles that mix with the toxins.

Of concern is the amount of air pollution that originates in other countries and is than carried by air currents to another part of the globe - branded "transcontinental pollution". The study sites as an example a dust plume from African deserts and fog pollution from Europe, which then converge on India.

Fine particle pollution (less than 2.5 microns in diameter) impacts health by causing breathing problems, irritation and becoming embedded within the lungs. The particles can also enter the bloodstream and damage arteries.

The study was published in Atmospheric Environment.

Air Pollution Facts

1 in 6 – The number of people in the United States living in regions with high, unhealthy levels of particulate pollution - (National Lung Assoc.)

49% - Truck drivers were found to have a death rate for heart disease of 49 percent higher than the average public, attributed to exposure to traffic pollution and diesel emissions – (Harvard Univ.)

95% - Cars manufactured today are 95% cleaner than 30 years ago (CARB)

189 – The number of toxic chemicals listed on the Clean Air Act (CAA) list of hazards air pollutants (HAPs) - (EPA)

18,000 – Estimated annual number of premature deaths in California attributed to particulate pollution – (CARB)

3.9 million – The number of adults and children diagnosed with asthma in California or 11.9% - compared to the national average of 10.1% - (CARB)

40.5 million – The population of Americans living in areas that failed the 2009 State of the Air testing for short-term particulate matter, year-round particulate matter and ozone smog – (National Lung Assoc.)

Court Rejects Challenges Against EPA Air Pollution Standards

On Tuesday, June 7th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected nearly all challenges to the EPA's standards for reducing emissions of fine particulate matter (soot). The challenge was brought by nine cities, ten power industry groups, and three states. The ruling to enforce more stringent standards will effect over 200 countries throughout the US.

Read the original ruling

Air Pollution and Emergency Visits: A Multi-City Time-Series Analysis

Relatively few studies have been conducted of the association between air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits, and most of these have been based on a small number of visits, for a limited number of health conditions and pollutants, and only daily measures of exposure and response.

Methods: A time-series analysis was conducted on nearly 400,000 ED visits to 14 hospitals in seven Canadian cities during the 1990s and early 2000s. Associations were examined between carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), and visits for angina/myocardial infarction, heart failure, dysrhythmia/conduction disturbance, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and respiratory infections.

Daily and 3-hourly visit counts were modeled as quasi-Poisson and analyses controlled for effects of temporal cycles, weather, day of week and holidays.

Results: 24-hour average concentrations of CO and NO2 lag 0 days exhibited the most consistent associations with cardiac conditions (2.1% (95% CI, 0.0-4.2%) and 2.6% (95% CI, 0.2-5.0%) increase in visits for myocardial infarction/angina per 0.7 ppm CO and 18.4 ppb NO2 respectively; 3.8% (95% CI, 0.7-6.9%) and 4.7% (95% CI, 1.2-8.4%) increase in visits for heart failure). Ozone (lag 2 days) was most consistently associated with respiratory visits (3.2% (95% CI, 0.3-6.2%), and 3.7% (95% CI, -0.5-7.9%) increases in asthma and COPD visits respectively per 18.4 ppb).

Associations tended to be of greater magnitude during the warm season (April - September). In particular, the associations of PM10 and PM2.5 with asthma visits were respectively nearly three- and over fourfold larger vs. all year analyses (14.4% increase in visits, 95% CI, 0.2-30.7, per 20.6 ug/m3 PM10 and 7.6% increase in visits, 95% CI, 5.1-10.1, per 8.2 ug/m3 PM2.5). No consistent associations were observed between three hour average pollutant concentrations and same-day three hour averages of ED visits.

Conclusions: In this large multicenter analysis, daily average concentrations of CO and NO2 exhibited the most consistent associations with ED visits for cardiac conditions, while ozone exhibited the most consistent associations with visits for respiratory conditions.

PM10 and PM2.5 were strongly associated with asthma visits during the warm season.

Author: David StiebMieczyslaw SzyszkowiczBrian RoweJudith Leech
Credits/Source: Environmental Health 2009, 8:25

See original article

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson Brings Science, Transparency Back to Air Quality Standards Decisions

Washington, D.C. – May 21, 2009) Stressing the importance of scientific integrity and transparency, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today called for key changes to the process for reviewing National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect human health and the environment.

“It’s essential that the best science and the greatest transparency inform air quality standards that prevent illness and save lives,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “These changes will help us bring a greater rigor and openness to our standard-setting process and improve the scientific basis for our standards.”

EPA sets NAAQS for six key pollutants known as “criteria pollutants” that are commonly found across the United States. They are ozone, particle pollution (particulate matter), lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.

EPA is reinstating the role of a key policy document created by agency scientists that contains staff analyses of options for the administrator to consider when setting air quality standards. This document, known as a “staff paper,” will be made available to the agency’s science advisors and the public prior to the initiation of formal rulemaking.

The previous administration replaced the so-called staff paper with an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking outlining potential options for air quality standards in the Federal Register.

In a separate letter to the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), Administrator Jackson reaffirmed the committee’s role in guiding the agency to make scientifically sound decisions. The CASAC was established by the Clean Air Act to provide the administrator with independent technical advice on national air quality standards.

In addition to restoring the policy document, Administrator Jackson is retaining previous changes that improved the review process. Those include a public workshop early in the NAAQS review, and the restructuring of key science and risks documents so they are more concise and focused on key scientific and policy issues. Jackson also asked staff to consult with scientific experts in other federal agencies that have responsibility for public health and environmental protection early in the review of each air quality standard.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/review.html

Exposure to Air Pollution May Damage DNA in as Few as 3 Days

Exposure to particulate matter has been recognized as a contributing factor to lung cancer development for some time, but a new study indicates inhalation of certain particulates can actually cause some genes to become reprogrammed, affecting both the development and the outcome of cancers and other diseases.

The research will be presented on Sunday, May 17, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

"Recently, changes in gene programming due to a chemical transformation called methylation have been found in the blood and tissues of lung cancer patients," said investigator Andrea Baccarelli, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of applied biotechnology at the University of Milan. "We aimed at investigating whether exposure to particulate matter induced changes in DNA methylation in blood from healthy subjects who were exposed to high levels of particulate matter in a foundry facility."

Researchers enrolled 63 healthy subjects who worked in a foundry near Milan, Italy. Blood DNA samples were collected on the morning of the first day of the work week, and again after three days of work. Comparing these samples revealed that significant changes had occurred in four genes associated with tumor suppression.

"The changes were detectable after only three days of exposure to particulate matter, indicating that environmental factors need little time to cause gene reprogramming which is potentially associated with disease outcomes," Dr. Baccarelli said.

"As several of the effects of particulate matter in foundries are similar to those found after exposure to ambient air pollution, our results open new hypotheses about how air pollutants modify human health," he added. "The changes in DNA methylation we observed are reversible and some of them are currently being used as targets of cancer drugs."

Dr. Baccarelli said the study results indicate that early interventions might be designed which would reverse gene programming to normal levels, reducing the health risks of exposure.

"We need to evaluate how the changes in gene reprogramming we observed are related to cancer risk," he said. "Down the road, it will be particularly important not only to show that these changes are associated with increased risk of cancer or other environmentally-induced diseases, but that, if we were able to prevent or revert them, these risks could be eliminated."

American Thoracic Society

State of the Air Report from American Lung Assoc.

This year's American Lung Association's State of the Air: 2009 report states:

"Air pollution continues to threaten the lives and health of millions of people in the United States despite great progress since the modern Clean Air Act was first passed in 1970. Even as the nation explores the complex challenges of global warming and energy, air pollution remains widespread and dangerous.

This year marks the tenth annual American Lung Association State of the Air report and provides an excellent opportunity to look back over the changes in the past ten years. This 2009 report looks at ozone and particle pollution year-round (annual average) and over short-term levels(24-hour) of particle pollution (PM2.5) found in monitoring sites across the United States in 2005, 2006, and 2007."

The Executive Summary gives an overview of Ozone, Year-round particulate pollution, Short-term particle pollution, Who the cleanest cities are, and What you can do to lower air pollution.

To read the report, go to: American Lung Association - State of the Air