STEP and partners receive grant to study air pollution near I-93

Somerville Journal: "Somerville receives federal grant to study air pollution near I-93 homes"
"STEP is very enthusiastic to be a partner for this study," said STEP President Ellin Reisner. "For the past year, we have worked as a community partner with Tufts University studying UFP exposure of residents in East Somerville living near I-93. This study provides our community with a critically important opportunity to identify ways to effectively reduce indoor UFP exposure which can have serious cardiovascular health consequences."

Freeway pollution tied to heart disease and strokes

Los Angeles Times: "Study finds traffic pollution can speed hardening of arteries"
People living within 328 feet of an L.A. freeway were found to have twice the average progression of atherosclerosis - thickening of artery walls that can lead to heart disease and stroke.

Another report links car pollution to health problems

New York Times: "Report Links Vehicle Exhaust to Health Problems"
Exhaust from cars and trucks exacerbates asthma in children and may cause new cases as well as other respiratory illnesses and heart problems resulting in deaths, an independent institute that focuses on vehicle-related air pollution has concluded.

WBUR on Somerville's air pollution research project

"On The Streets Of Somerville, An RV On A Mission"
Air pollution is a big problem in the city. In fact, Somerville has some of the highest rates of lung cancer and heart attack deaths in the state, and some researchers think that's partly due to poor air quality caused by highways.

Somerville air quality testing begins soon

Somerville News: "Comprehensive air quality testing for one year begins soon"
The Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership, a group of concerned Somervillians, has partnered with Tufts University to devise and implement a study of air quality in neighborhoods just off major highways in Somerville. It is thought that the added pollution from passing cars negatively affects the residents' cardiovascular health.

STEP partners with Tufts on study of highway health risks

Do "ultrafine particles" from combustion engines harm our health, especially for people living close to highways? Early research is already suggesting the answer is yes. STEP is proud to be participating in a local study of this issue, run by the Tufts Community Research Center. The CAFEH (Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health) study, among the first of its kind in the country, will measure ultrafine pollutants and collect and map heart disease data from residents - in Somerville and in Chinatown. Keep an eye on the CAFEH website.

Boston Globe: "Road hazard? Tufts researchers study health risks highways may pose in neighborhoods"
"Since we see associations with asthma and cardiovascular disease with people living near highways, you have to ask what's causing that," said Doug Brugge, director of the Tufts Community Research Center and the scientist leading the study, which will begin this summer. "There is a lot of smoke suggesting that there is a fire."

If you want to learn a whole lot more about this issue. a good place to start is the EPA Particulate Matter site.

STEP's Wig Zamore presents to EPA on transportation-related pollution

On April 2, Wig Zamore made a presentation to the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee on transportation-related air pollution. The slides provide specific data on local communities and existing studies of the relationship between highway pollutants and health problems. Download the study (PDF or PowerPoint).

Studies on Somerville pollution near highways

The following presentations were given at the recent Conference of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology and the International Society of Exposure Analysis (ISEE ISEA).

"Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Vehicle Exhaust Emission Gradients Near Highways in Somerville, Massachusetts"

"Traffic-Related Air Pollution in a Densely Populated Urban Area"

"Community Oriented Reuse and Refinement of Available Transportation, Air Quality and Public Health Data to Shape Regional Equity Discussions and Healthier Development Outcomes in Somerville, Massachusetts" (not yet available for download)

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New highway pollution and health study in Somerville gets funding

Tufts University researchers and five Boston-area community groups (including STEP) received a 5-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the health effects of pollution exposure in neighborhoods adjacent to major highways.

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Dangers of fine particulate traffic pollution

U.S. News & World Report: "The Smallest of Pollutants Are Linked to Outsize Health Risks"
Sitting in traffic triples a person's short-term heart-attack risk. Living in a city with heavy air pollution such as Los Angeles is as risky for the heart as being a former smoker. And having a house near a highway ups the risk of hardened arteries by some 60 percent. In each case, tiny "ultrafine" particles in the air may be a key culprit.

Traffic pollution's effects on children's IQ

A study from the Harvard School of Public Health found that kids who live in neighbourhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air. Read more.