Attacks on Clean Air Protections Put Latinos in Danger
Across the country, millions of Americans suffer the health burdens of air pollution, from asthma to lung cancer to chronic bronchitis. Latinos find themselves among some of the most impacted communities, suffering greatly under the costs of health care, lost days of school, missed work days, and ultimately, lives lost, due to the life-threatening contaminants in our air.
In NRDC's 2004 report, Hidden Danger: Environmental Health Threats in the Latino Community, we highlighted the impacts of air pollution on Latino communities and the reality that millions of Latinos live in areas that do not meet the federal government's air quality standards.
Sadly, these numbers have not changed much over the past six years. Hispanic-Americans continue to live in large numbers in the geographic areas with the highest concentrations of air pollution, and intensely suffer the impacts of this pollution.
According to recent reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Lung Association:
- In 2006, 26.6% of Hispanics lived in counties that violated 24-hour standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) -- the greatest percentage of any ethnic group. (Source: CDC 2011)
- That same year, 48.4% of Hispanics lived in counties that frequently violated 8-hour ground-level ozone standards. (Source: CDC 2011)
- As of 2008, 4.7 million Hispanics had been diagnosed with asthma in their lifetime. (Source: ALA 2010)