Is Black Carbon Good for Kids? No.

Broughal Middle School students would be exposed to a lot less air-born “black carbon” if they avoid Broadway for their walk to and from school, according to a survey of South Bethlehem’s air quality by scientists at Lehigh University. About 250 local business and government leaders attending the annual Lehigh Valley Research Consortium’s annual presentation Thursday June 28 heard this and other statistics about the quality of life in the Lehigh Valley. The meeting was at Iacocca Hall on the mountain-top campus of Lehigh University. Black carbon is part of the air pollution in the Lehigh Valley and is associated with emissions from airplanes, train locomotives and diesel engines. It’s not gas…it’s solid microscopic particles. “Diesel [fueled] vehicles such as trucks, buses and heavy equipment are a primary source of black carbon pollution in the region,” said the report accompanying Holland’s findings. The particles are too small to be filtered by the human body’s natural systems. Black carbon particles are part of a larger family of harmful chemicals generally referred to as “fine particulate matter.” The EPA refers to this collection of air-born contaminates as “PM,” meaning particulate matter. They are tiny pieces of solid or liquid matter suspended in the atmosphere as an aerosol. They are microscopic air-born particles which often measure 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter or small enough to go straight into the lungs when breathed. A million micrometers are in one meter. The researchers, supervised by Dr. Breena Holland, a political science professor at Lehigh U., measured three spikes of near 30 micrograms of black carbon in each cubic meter (μg/m3) of air along Broadway, a route back and forth from home to school favored by a student participating in the experiment. These three spikes measured from 2:45 p. m. to 4:00 p. m. on an Oct. school day in 2011 contrast sharply with the results of a second set of measurements taken along an alternate route that avoided Broadway. The second set of measurements during the same time but on an alternative route from school to home that avoided Broadway as much as possible showed that exposure ranged from zero to three micrograms of black carbon exposure. The EPA’s daily maximum per day for exposure to PM2.5 (which includes black carbon) is 35 micrograms per day. However, Holland caution, there is no “safe” level of exposure. In the spikes measured, people were getting near the maximum that is legally allowed. Is black carbon good for kids? No, according to Holland. “In my personal opinion, black carbon in south Bethlehem poses a threat to both the elderly and the young. The young have developing respiratory systems and are therefore more vulnerable, while older adults have weaker immune systems. South Bethlehem has a lot of traffic running through it and the Valley is already non-compliant with the Clean Air Act that establishes safety standards.” Other scientists, as reported in a 2009 article on www.Time.com, say that sooty air is bad for the climate. “Black carbon may be responsible for as much as 18 percent of the planet's warming, making it the No. 2 contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, which accounts for 40 percent,” said Bryan Walsh, writing for the website’s Science and Space column. “The world could think that we just cut CO2 and the problem is solved and we all go home, but it's not," says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climatologist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and an expert on black carbon. A paper by Thomas J. Grahame of the U. S. Department of Energy presented to the Pittsburgh Coal Conference on Oct. 18, 2012 said that “highway proximity studies” show increased health risks to people living close to a major road. According to Grahame, these residents have a “significantly increased” risk of death from breathing PM2.5 particulates. He defined close proximity as being within 100 meters of a major highway or within 50 meters of a major urban road. Grahame’s paper also concluded that “oxidative stress” as caused by breathing black carbon and related particulates hastens the “shortening of telomeres, the end caps of chromosomes. This, in turn, increases biological ageing. Grahame reported that studies in Beijing, China show that wearing facemasks reduce the negative health effects of airborne particulates generated by fuel-burning vehicles. The DOE scientist, Grahame, cites a 2012 report from the World Health Organization which claims that black carbon “may operate as a universal carrier of a wide variety of …toxicity” to lungs, defense cells and, possibly blood circulation.” The general neighborhood of “Five-Points,” the area around the intersections of Wyandotte Street, Dakotah Street and Broadway in South Bethlehem, registered even higher air pollution levels for black carbon. Measurements taken over rush hour or 3 p. m. to 5 p. m. on a day in Oct. 2010 showed an average of about 375microns per cubic meter of black carbon in the air with several spikes exceeding 500. Local studies cited by the report say that the primary sources of PM2.5 pollution are “industrial processes, dust, mobile sources, and fuel combustion.” According to the research consortium, burning fuel and industrial processes “produce the largest quantity of particle pollution in Lehigh County and Northampton County.” Lehigh Valley daily average PM2.5 concentration measured in June 2011, documented exposure levels at a daily average of about 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Spikes to 60 μg/m3 are evident in the graph supporting the study. The lowest pollution levels recorded never dropped below 10 μg/m3. However, having your kids take the less polluted route to and from school may not be as easy as it sounds. Holland said students walk on the trafficked routes partly because they are populated by people and therefore the routes seem safer. “Addressing the pollution exposure problem will therefore, require making sure that alternative routes are also ‘safe’ for children,” said Holland in an email. And, they might want to consider face masks. Dr. Melissa Rodriquez, a naturopathic doctor living with her family in Beijing writing on www.Beijing-kids.com said, “If you must go outside on a heavily polluted day, wear a facemask. The adverse effects of air pollution on the heart have been shown to be a result of fine particles in the air, which come from vehicle exhaust and industrial sources. Wearing a facemask with a high quality filter prevents people from inhaling these potentially harmful particles.”