New research conducted by the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) examines the distribution of air pollution and its associated cancer risks across U.S. communities. The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, analyzes data from 2011 to 2019 to identify patterns in cancer risk due to lifetime exposure to air pollution.
The research highlights disparities in estimated cancer risk linked to air toxics, particularly affecting urban areas, lower-income communities, and those with higher proportions of racial minorities. Patrick Hurbain, a postdoctoral researcher at DRI who led the study, stated: “I wanted to look holistically at poor health outcomes from air pollution exposure throughout the country and through time to see if things are getting better or worse.”
The study utilizes sociodemographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau alongside public health and air pollution information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Toxics Screening Assessment tool. This tool provides maps of toxic air pollutant concentrations and estimates cancer risk tied to lifetime exposure across census tracts.
Findings indicate that urban communities face higher estimated cancer risks, with racial demographics showing stronger correlations with disparities than income or education levels. Areas like “Cancer Alley” in southern Louisiana have significantly more Black and Hispanic residents compared to White individuals. However, this racial disparity is not consistent in rural and suburban areas where larger White populations showed higher burdens of cancer risk.
“There is a definite effect of the social makeup of an area with respect to their estimated risk from air pollution,” Hurbain noted.
The study observed that racial disparities peaked in 2011 but have improved over time due to effective air pollution control measures. “That means that air pollution control measures are doing better, and people are, in fact, getting less air toxics across the country,” Hurbain said.
Despite improvements in racial disparities, lower-income community disparities remain consistent over time. Hurbain aims to expand on this research by focusing on highly impacted communities and examining factors such as housing age, poverty levels, and surrounding industries for potential public health improvements.
Hurbain encourages public involvement using publicly available data like those used in this study: “Everyone can be a citizen scientist and start looking at the state of our environment.”
For further details: The full study titled “Environmental Inequality in Estimated Cancer Risk from Airborne Toxic Exposure across United States Communities from 2011 to 2019” is accessible via Environmental Science & Technology at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c02526
Study authors include Patrick Hurbain (DRI), Matthew Strickland (UNR), Yan Liu (UNR), and Dingsheng Li (UNR).
Desert Research Institute is Nevada’s non-profit research institute established in 1959 focused on impactful scientific inquiries globally.
