According to a recent study by Boston College's Global Observatory on Planetary Health researchers, air pollution continues to be a silent killer in Massachusetts, causing an estimated 2,780 deaths a year and measurable IQ loss in Bay State children exposed to fine particulate pollutants in the air they breathe. The Barr Foundation funded the study, the first to investigate the state's extensive public health effects of air pollution town by town.
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Boston College Global Observatory on Planetary Health Research Findings on Air Pollution in Massachusetts
Regardless of demographics or financial level, the study demonstrated that air pollution-related illness, death, and IQ reduction occur in every city and village. The cities and towns with the worst economic and social conditions had the highest rates.
"We are talking about the impacts of air pollution at a very local level in Massachusetts-not just statewide," Philip J. Landrigan, lead author, said. He said that the report gives residents of all cities and towns the chance to observe for themselves the air quality they are breathing and the hazardous health effects that air pollution has on adults and children. He said the health effects happened at pollution levels below the current EPA standards.
In the study released in the Environmental Health journal, the Boston College team calculated the cumulative impact on young children's cognitive development in Massachusetts in 2019 was a loss of approximately two million performance IQ points or more than two IQ points for an average child.
The researchers found that IQ decline affects children's academic performance and graduation rates.
Due to a lack of air quality monitoring stations in the state, town-by-town air pollution data is often not accessible. The group used the data that was readily accessible and computer modeling to calculate levels for all cities and villages.
The researchers found that at least 2,185 of the 2,780 deaths in Massachusetts in 2019 that were linked to air pollution were caused by lung cancer, 1,677 by heart disease, 343 by chronic lung disease, and 200 by stroke. Children with asthma accounted for 15,386 instances, and 308 newborns were underweight at around 5.5 lbs. or less.
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Fine Particulate Air Pollution Standard
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard for fine particulate pollution is 12 micrograms per cubic meter, while the World Health Organization's recommended level is five. Based on the study, Massachusetts recorded 6.3 micrograms in 2019, ranging from a low of 2.77 micrograms per cubic meter in Worcester County to a high of 8.26 in Suffolk County.
Fine particulate air pollution has been associated with a number of noncommunicable diseases in adults, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, lung cancer, and diabetes. Air pollution raises the risk of premature birth, low birth weight, stillbirth, poor lung development, and asthma in children and newborns.
The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for more than 95% of the air pollution in Massachusetts. Two-thirds of pollutant emissions, or 655,000 tons, were produced by cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, trains, and ships in 2017, the most recent year for which data was available. Power plants, industrial operations, household heating, and cooking produced two hundred eighty-three thousand tons. These sources collectively released 938,000 tons of pollution.
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