Cleaner Air Helps Everyone. It Helps Black Communities a Lot.
“Implementing stricter limits on fine particulate matter could reduce mortality rates by up to 7 percent for Black and low-income Americans over 65 who are already exposed to some of the dirtiest air in the United States, according to the study, led by researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. There is already overwhelming evidence that people of color, and Black communities in particular, are disproportionately exposed to harmful air pollutants like the fine particulate matter examined in the study, which is known as PM 2.5 because it is no more than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. The new research, published Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that tightening the limit on fine particulate matter by 4 micrograms per cubic meter of air would result in a 4 percent reduction in the mortality rate for higher-income white adults. The same change would result in a reduction of 6 percent to 7 percent for higher-income Black adults, lower-income white adults and lower-income Black adults.”