Photo credit: Marcin Jozwiak
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
A new study published online ahead of print in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Environmental Health Perspectives reports that new research shows that the cumulative risk of adverse health effects from industrial air pollution is greater than previously thought. The results were reported in The Washington Post. The Post’s reporters noted that “regulators typically measure community risk by looking at the primary health effects of individual chemicals, an approach that often does not address their combined risks.” The new analytic methods address the combined risk of multiple chemical exposures.
Why am I writing about this in a blog devoted to noise issues? Because while the new study addresses chemical exposures from oil refineries and chemical plants, gaseous and particulate air pollution are inextricably joined with the noise pollution that internal combustion engines produce. This is of special importance when discussing transportation noise. Recent reports (such as here, here and here) of the combined adverse effects of air and noise pollution on human health show that the combination has worse cumulative health effects on cardiac health and metabolic health than pollution from either source studied in isolation.
Future research about the adverse effects of air pollution from transportation, including from vehicles, trains and aircraft, should also consider the cumulative risk from transportation noise exposure. And, research about the adverse health of transportation noise exposure should consider the interactions with particulate and gaseous emissions from internal combustion engines.
The switch to cleaner, quieter electric vehicles and now electric heavy construction equipment reduces both noise and air pollution. That is a good thing. A quieter world with cleaner air will be a better and healthier world for all.
