For Gaddy, who is African American, the report’s findings confirm what she and her neighbors in Newark’s predominantly black South Ward have experienced for years. Gaddy and her three children were diagnosed with asthma; his The eldest son died of a heart attack. in 2021 at the age of 32.
“It’s just the cumulative impacts of pollution that are harming us,” Gaddy said. “And unfortunately, that’s what happens in our city.”
According to the report, the New York/Newark metropolitan area has 1.8 million adults with asthma and 370,000 children with the disease.
Researchers are hopeful that a series of new car emissions standards that were announced last month by the Biden administration could significantly reduce some forms of particle pollution.
Under the proposed new rule, by 2032, 56 percent of all new vehicles sold would need to be electric; The proposal also calls for increases in plug-in hybrid vehicles or other partially electric cars and in more efficient gasoline-powered cars.
“We’ve seen the Environmental Protection Agency finalize a series of new rules to clean up air pollution and address climate change, and more are on the way,” Bender said.
“We have seen the strictest standard on particles. We have seen strong measures to reduce emissions from the cars and trucks of the future. “We have seen measures to reduce methane and volatile organic compounds from the oil and gas industry,” he said. “And we’re asking the administration to cross the finish line with more items on its to-do list.”
Bender said the association hopes the EPA will update the national ozone standard, which has not been revised since 2015.
“Sometimes people don’t realize that poor air can affect them drastically,” he said. Amit “Bobby” Mahajan, national spokesperson for the Lung Association. “We know there are asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, but we also see increases in premature births, cognitive decline and the development of lung cancer in people who have high exposure to ozone and particulate pollution.
“So not only is it important to provide clean air, but providing clean air minimizes the number of exposures we have to these serious diseases and honestly reduces our risk of having deadly underlying diseases.”“ said Mahajan, who also serves as director of interventional pulmonology at Inova Health System in Northern Virginia.
Gaddy said he is confident that federal officials will soon act on recommendations from researchers and other experts to help alleviate the asthma crisis in his city.
“We know that, over time, our communities will heal and restore themselves to the level they should be,” Gaddy added. “And that just because of our zip code or the color of our skin, our communities will not continue to be these sacrifice zones.”
