- LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A
two-week-old baby in the Los Angeles area has already been exposed to more
toxic air pollution than the U.S. government deems acceptable as a cancer
risk over a lifetime, according to a report on Monday by an environmental
campaign group.
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- The study of air pollution in California by the National
Environmental Trust also said that even if a young child moved away from
California, or if the air had been cleaned up by the time he or she reached
adulthood, "the potential (cancer) risk that a child rapidly accumulates
in California from simply breathing will not go away."
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- California, known to be the nation's smoggiest state,
already has a potential cancer risk to adults that is hundreds of times
above levels seen as acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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- But the report said children were more vulnerable to
pollutants than adults because, pound for pound, they breathe more air,
drink more water, eat more food and play outdoors more than adults.
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- "A baby born in California will be exposed to such
high levels of toxic air contaminants that the child will exceed the Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) lifetime acceptable exposure level for cancer
at a very early age, and will exceed the lifetime acceptable exposure level
by many multiples by age 18," the Washington D.C-based environmental
campaign group said.
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- The "Toxic Beginnings" study divided California
into five geographical areas. It concluded that in Los Angeles an infant
would have reached the EPA's one chance in one million limit of contracting
cancer from contaminants in 12 days, and in Sacramento it would take 23
days.
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- It said diesel exhaust -- from trucks and cars, school
buses, and farm and construction equipment -- was still the worst source
of air pollution. But it also took into account chemicals emitted by dry
cleaners and factories as well as pesticides, adhesives and lubricant oils.
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- The National Environmental Trust urged federal and state
policy makers to make cleaning up the air a priority.
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- "The overwhelming policy implication of these findings
can be reduced to one word: URGENCY," it said.
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- It recommended that regional and local governments emphasize
alternative technologies and fuels, replace diesel school buses and other
municipal vehicles with cleaner alternative fuel models and enforce existing
laws on fuel emissions.
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