Clean Air News

As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.

TRENTON—Clean air advocates from the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, released today the findings of a major study of the health impacts of air pollution in the state and called for urgent action to protect public health.

The study, entitled "The Public Health Impact of Air Pollution in New Jersey," determined that each year between 2,300 and 5,400 New Jersey residents die prematurely because of air pollution, accounting for between 5.5 percent and 7.7 percent of all deaths not caused by violence or accidents. This finding ranks air pollution as the third highest risk factor for premature death, behind smoking and obesity, and just slightly above alcohol.

"Unlike smoking or obesity, individuals have little control over their exposure to air pollution," said Dena Mottola, executive director of NJPIRG Law and Policy Center. "This study highlights why we need to act aggressively as a society to limit pollution from all the major sources."

The study quantified the impacts of soot and smog pollution in New Jersey, from hospital admissions to sick days. NJPIRG researchers produced the estimates using air pollution monitoring data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), baseline health statistics from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and EPA, a review of scientific studies of the connection between air pollution and health damage, and methodology based on similar work produced by EPA and the World Health Organization. The report quantifies the full impact of air pollution, accounting for all air pollution above natural background levels.

The study found widespread damage to public health from air pollution extending well beyond premature death. The study reports that annually, soot causes 7,800 to 15,000 hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, 450 to 9,500 new cases of chronic bronchitis, 330,000 to 1.4 million asthma attacks, 460,000 to 530,000 missed work days, 7.1 million to 9.7 million person-days when air pollution-related illness limits normal activity levels, and 14 million to 45 million person-days when air pollution causes mild respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath or cough.

"Air pollution is a threat to our health year-round," added Mottola. "Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it can't harm you."

Additionally, the study reports that every summer season, ground level ozone, or smog, causes 860 to 1,900 cases of adult onset asthma, 3,900 to 5,900 hospital admissions for respiratory disease, 640 to 12,000 emergency room visits for asthma, 110,000 to 310,000 asthma attacks, 960,000 to 1.7 million person-days when air pollution limits normal activity levels, and 2.4 million to 7.5 million person-days when smog causes mild respiratory symptoms.

"Contrary to popular belief, scientific studies indicate that there are no safe levels of exposure to air pollution," said Travis Madsen, staff researcher for NJPIRG. "New Jersey residents face an enormous burden of illness from bad air, despite the fact that air quality meets federal standards on many days during the year."

Children also bear a health burden from air pollution. The report found that each year, air pollution causes 40 to 80 infants to die prematurely, 290 to 440 hospitalizations for pediatric asthma, 21,000 to 77,000 cases of acute bronchitis in children, 150,000 to 170,000 pediatric asthma attacks, and roughly 600,000 missed school days.

The pollutants examined in the study mainly come from the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel in motor vehicles and coal and natural gas in power plants. Within New Jersey in 1999, nearly 60 percent of soot emissions and almost half of smog-forming emissions came from on and off-road motor vehicles and equipment. On-highway vehicles produced 48 percent of particulate emissions and 31 percent of smog-forming emissions. Out of state pollution sources also contribute to the overall problem, including mobile sources in nearby cities like Philadelphia and New York, and coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and the Midwest.

The report recommends a suite of policies aimed at reducing emissions from the largest sources in order to reduce pollution levels and improve public health. The policies include: cleaning up on-highway vehicles by installing particulate trapping filters on currently operating diesel engines and requiring auto manufacturers to produce less-polluting vehicles; reducing road-dependent land use practices and sprawl while encouraging better transit to reduce transportation emissions; cleaning up upwind industrial facilities by restoring and enforcing the New Source Review provision of the Clean Air Act, and implementing a new, tough national cap on power plant emissions. The authors note that while these policies will not fully eliminate air pollution and its impacts, they will yield progress.