As Southern California continues to struggle through this summer’s unrelenting smog, a study released Wednesday gives a stark reminder of why air quality matters. Researchers believe that hundreds of people die each year because of Southern California’s poor air quality. Pollution levels routinely exceed the levels deemed safe by health professionals. In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area, about 1,341 people are estimated to die each year because of bad air. That makes the L.A. area’s air quality the deadliest in the nation.
The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area was second worst, with about 808 people estimated to die annually because of air pollution.
The Santa Ana-Irvine area had 64 estimated deaths from air pollution.
The study was conducted by the American Thoracic Society, a group of health-care professionals that focuses on understanding pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders, and New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management. Nationally, the deaths were estimated at 9,320 a year, which is comparable to the number of lives lost annually to drunken driving. The study’s lead author, Kevin Cromer, a professor at the NYU institute, said by telephone that he hopes the results will raise public awareness and better inform policy makers.
By DAVID DANELSKI | ddanelski@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: August 10, 2016 at 11:40 am | UPDATED: August 28, 2017 at 6:11 am
The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area was second worst, with about 808 people estimated to die annually because of air pollution.
The Santa Ana-Irvine area had 64 estimated deaths from air pollution.
The study was conducted by the American Thoracic Society, a group of health-care professionals that focuses on understanding pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders, and New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management. Nationally, the deaths were estimated at 9,320 a year, which is comparable to the number of lives lost annually to drunken driving. The study’s lead author, Kevin Cromer, a professor at the NYU institute, said by telephone that he hopes the results will raise public awareness and better inform policy makers.
By DAVID DANELSKI | ddanelski@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: August 10, 2016 at 11:40 am | UPDATED: August 28, 2017 at 6:11 am