The good news: Southern Californians are less likely to get cancer from toxic air than they were 10 years ago. But the rest of the data from a big new air quality report isn’t so clear.
The good news is: the air is less toxic
SpVVK/SpVVK
Every seven years, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates air quality in famously smoggy Southern California, tries to figure out exactly how toxic the stuff we breathe here really is. Today, officials announced that the cancer risk from the air is more than 50% less than it was in 2005.
The bad news is: the cancer risk is higher than previously thought
Bret Hartman / Reuters
Officials said they may have been underestimating the cancer risk from the air for years, by a factor of nearly 3. In a press release and a conference call Thursday, officials said that current cancer risk guidelines are expected to be raised by an average factor of 2.7 as soon as early next year.
"During the past decade, scientists have found that children's sensitivity to air toxics has been underestimated," the air district wrote in a release.
Despite that unsettling news, Barry Wallerstein, the executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said the reductions in toxic emissions announced Thursday are "one of the regions greatest achievements in pollution control" and "pretty remarkable."
More needs to be done, he added, "to move toward healthful air and adequate protection of our communities."
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1r3Z3R1
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