Highways pollute formerly redlined communities of color
Minority neighborhoods that were redlined last century may have higher levels of pollution today, and highways are the main cause, a new study shows.
The research, published Feb. 21 in Environmental Science & Technology, found that formerly redlined neighborhoods in Denver are now exposed to more air pollution than other urban neighborhoods.
Redlining, which occurred primarily from the 1930s to 1960s, was a practice in which mortgage companies rated neighborhoods as risky for housing loans if they had high proportions of residents of color. As a result, minorities were often denied loans, keeping them from building home equity and locking them into poverty.
Those wrongs live on today through higher rates of air pollution. Study researchers examined 2020 data on air pollution in Denver neighborhoods, finding those that had been given a “D” rating under redlining — the riskiest rating for loans — had 13% higher levels of nitrogen dioxide than neighborhoods that had received an “A.”
At the heart of those disparities is one main contributor, the study said: highways. When the U.S. began to expand its highway system in the 1950s, it built major roadways directly through many formerly redlined communities. From Syracuse, New York, to Miami, Florida, highway construction destroyed neighborhoods and displaced more than a million people. People who stayed were subjected to higher levels of air pollution, which persist today.
In the formerly redlined areas of Denver, highways accounted for 70% of nitrogen oxide emissions in 2020. Almost half of those emissions come from diesel-powered vehicles, which tend to be used for commercial purposes.
As communities near major highways and industrial areas of Denver have higher rates of Hispanic residents, the population is disproportionately exposed to fine particle pollution and other contaminants, the study found. American Indian and Alaska Native residents in the city also had higher rates of exposure compared to other non-Hispanic populations.
Banned crop pesticide detected in humans, food
Despite being banned from U.S. food crops, a little-known pesticide linked to possible reproductive harms is showing up in the bodies of Americans, new research shows.
Scientists with the Environmental Working Group found traces of chlormequat — a pesticide that is allowed on imported food products but not on food grown in the U.S. — in 80% of human urine samples collected from 2017 to 2023.
Published Feb. 15 in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, the research found higher levels of the pesticide in samples from 2023 compared to the previous years, suggesting that exposure to the chemical may be increasing. Chlormequat also was detected in 92% of oat-based foods purchased study researchers in May 2023, including common cereal products.
Previous studies have linked chlormequat to reproductive and fetal developmental damage in animals, suggesting that it may also harm humans, the researchers said.
Chlormequat was not allowed on imported oats prior to 2018. That year, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency allowed some of the chemical to be present in imported food — and allowed even more in 2020. Many oat products in the U.S. come from Canada, where the pesticide is approved for use on certain food crops.
In April, the EPA issued a proposed decision that would allow chlormequat to be used on U.S. crops such as barley, oat and wheat, citing an agency health risk assessment that found no dietary risks of concern. Chlormequat is currently approved for use on ornamental plants grown in U.S. greenhouses and nurseries to control plant size.
Discrimination against patients common, health workers say
Nearly half of U.S. health workers have witnessed racism and discrimination against patients and say it’s more common in facilities with high numbers of patients of color.
In hospitals, community clinics and other health care settings across the U.S. patients are treated differently based on their race, ethnicity and language, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund and the African American Research Collaborative.
Released Feb. 15, the report was based on a 2023 survey of more than 3,000 health care workers, including nurses, doctors, dental hygienists, physician assistants, mental health workers and administrators.
Health care workers who worked in settings with more patients of color were more likely to say they had personally observed discrimination than those who worked in settings with higher rates of white patients. In facilities with predominantly Black patients, 70% of workers said they had witnessed the behavior, as did 61% of workers in settings with predominantly Hispanic patients. In comparison, discrimination was only witnessed by 43% of workers in settings with mostly white patients.
Discrimination against patients was also seen to affect care. Half of survey-takers said patients of color were less likely to be given medication when in pain. And when patients of color advocated for themselves as part of their care, workers said medical providers were less likely to be as accepting as they were of white patients.
Language was also a factor in discrimination, the survey found. Nearly 60% of health workers said patients speaking a language other than English did not receive the same quality of treatment as English speakers.
Patients are not the only ones being discriminated against in health care. The survey found that 44% of health workers have observed racism against coworkers in the workplace. Unsurprisingly, many workers said that workplace racism and discrimination caused them stress.
The report called for training to help recognize discrimination, reviews of policies and procedures, and easy ways for patients and staff to report discrimination, among other measures.
Traffic air pollution may be linked to Alzheimer’s
Exposure to traffic-related air pollution may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.
Researchers at Rollins University examined tissue from people who had donated their brains to science, finding that those with greater exposure to air pollution one to three years before their deaths were more likely to have higher levels of amyloid plaques.
The plaques, which are believed to be markers for Alzheimer’s, are clumps of protein that can stick together in the brain, including regions dealing with memory and other cognitive functions.
Brain donors who had lived in areas with higher levels of traffic-related fine-particle pollution, also known as PM2.5, had more amyloid plaques, found the study, published Feb. 21 in Neurology. While the researchers said the findings do not prove that air pollution causes Alzheimer’s, it shows it may be a contributing factor.
The average level of PM2.5 exposure in the year before donors died was 1.32 micrograms per cubic meter, and 1.35 in the three years before death. People who were exposed to an additional 1 microgram of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air in the year before they died were twice as likely to have higher levels of plaques. Donors with even greater exposure in the three years before death were 87% more likely to have higher levels of plaques.
Researchers also examined possible connections to APOE e4, a gene variant associated with Alzheimer’s disease, finding that people who lacked the variant showed a stronger link between air pollution and signs of Alzheimer’s.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public-health journalist.