EPA significantly underestimates the long-term cancer hazard posed by formaldehyde and a slew of other hazardous air pollutants in a hotbed of U.S. petrochemical production, researchers conclude in a new study.
The study, published online Monday and led by scientists at John Hopkins University and the University of Arizona, tapped mobile air monitoring to track pollutant concentrations at various spots along the Louisiana industrial corridor often dubbed “Cancer Alley.”
For all but one of 15 census tracts, the authors found that the estimated lifetime cancer risk for local residents was higher than EPA’s figures. While the median difference was about five times greater, it ranged up to more than 11 times as much.
“This cancer risk is unacceptably high, especially for an area with high social and economic vulnerabilities,“ the authors wrote.
