Health Effects of Ozone and Particle Pollution cont'd
Focusing on Children’s Health
Children may look like miniature adults, but they’re not. Air pollution is especially dangerous to them because their lungs are growing and because they are so active.
Just like the arms and legs, the largest portion of a child’s lungs will grow long after he or she is born. Eighty percent of their tiny air sacs develop after birth. Those sacs, called the alveoli, are where the life-sustaining transfer of oxygen to the blood takes place. The lungs and their alveoli aren’t fully grown until children become adults.44 In addition, the body’s defenses that help adults fight off infections are still developing in young bodies.45 Children have more respiratory infections than adults, which also seems to increase their susceptibility to air pollution.46
Furthermore, children don’t behave like adults, which also affects their vulnerability. They are outside for longer periods and are usually more active when outdoors. Consequently, they inhale more polluted outdoor air than adults typically do.47
World Health Association, American Academy of Pediatrics Confirm Harm to Children
The effects of air pollution on children are striking. In 2004, two major analyses concluded that air pollution is especially harmful to children.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published an in-depth look at the research on children’s health and air pollution. Most importantly, the scientists concluded that particle pollution caused infant deaths. In addition, they found that air pollution caused a host of harmful effects on children, including:
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short-term and long-term decreased lung function rates and that caused lower lung function levels, critical measures of how well the child will breathe throughout his or her life (due primarily to exposure to particle pollution and traffic-related pollution);
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aggravation of asthma (from exposure to particle as well as ozone pollution);
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increased prevalence and incidence of cough and bronchitis (primarily from particle pollution); and
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increased risk of upper and lower respiratory infections.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics published a statement on the dangers of outdoor air pollution on children’s health, pointing out the special differences for children.49 The Academy reported many of the health effects cited by the WHO study, but also focused on the sources common to far too many children. Both the WHO monograph and the Academy statement highlighted recent studies showing how children living near highly traveled highways appear to be particularly harmed by traffic-related pollution. The Academy statement highlighted the specific concern over diesel school buses, citing a pilot study that showed children riding inside a school bus may be exposed to four times more diesel exhaust than if they were riding in a car.50
New Research on Prenatal Exposure to Air Pollution
Several studies published in 2005 found prenatal exposure to air pollution can harm children. A study of pregnant women in four Pennsylvania counties found an increased risk of preterm births linked to chronic exposure to high levels of air pollution during the last six weeks of pregnancy.51 A study of three low-income neighborhoods in New York City found that infants born to nonsmoking mothers faced a possible increased risk of cancer from living in areas with elevated urban area air pollutants.52 A third study in the Czech Republic found evidence that the mother’s exposure to air pollution may even alter the immune system of the fetus.53
Air Pollution Linked to Asthma Attacks, New Onset of Asthma
Researchers from Yale University studied children with asthma whose mothers had tracked their symptoms on a daily basis. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that children with asthma were particularly vulnerable to ozone even at levels below EPA’s current eight-hour ozone standard.54 An accompanying editorial warned, “Air pollution is one of the most under-appreciated contributors to asthma exacerbation.”55
A recent study suggests that year-round exposure to ozone may be associated with an increased risk of the development of asthma. While more research is needed to confirm this finding, researchers tracking 3,500 students in Southern California found an increased onset of asthma in children who were taking part in three or more outdoor activities in communities with high levels of ozone.56
