Air quality improvements belie rising racial and ethnic disparities in pollutant-related deaths, study finds
The U.S. is making progress in reducing the public health consequences of air pollutants and fine particulate matter. But these improvements have not benefited everyone equally, according to a new study published on Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspective.
Researchers found an overall drop from 2010 and 2019 in death and disease linked to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an air pollutant produced from fossil fuel burning, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution. Deaths attributable to PM2.5 decreased by nearly a third, going from 69,000 to 49,500, and new pediatric cases of asthma attributable to NO2 dipped almost 40%, from 191,000 to 115,000.
