EPA cites cancer risks from airborne toxins

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http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/living/health/3376869.htm

Sat, Jun. 01, 2002

EPA cites cancer risks from airborne toxins

BY JEFF NESMITH

News Service

WASHINGTON - More than 20 million Americans breathe toxic chemicals that

expose them to cancer risks at least 100 times " acceptable " levels,

according to voluminous data released quietly Friday by the Environmental

Protection Agency.

Those most at risk are mainly city dwellers, but virtually everyone who

breathes outdoor air in the United States has a lifetime cancer risk 10

times greater than the acceptable threshold because of toxic pollutants, the

EPA said.

The EPA's long-awaited National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment lists airborne

inventories of 33 toxic pollutants for every census tract in the United

States. It appeared without announcement on an agency Internet page Friday

afternoon, and environmental groups publicized it.

" These findings are a wake-up call that the EPA should take action to reduce

this long overlooked public health threat, " said Figdor, a clean air

advocate at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

" After nearly a decade of delay, the EPA still has yet to fulfill its

mandate under the Clean Air Act to reduce the risks posed by toxic emissions

from cars, trucks and nonroad engines, like construction and farm equipment,

and their fuels, " she said.

The data are based on the agency's 1996 inventory of toxic emissions from

such pollution sources as factories, incinerators, filling stations, cars,

trucks, forest fires and outboard motors.

These data were combined with mathematical models that try to predict the

dispersing effect of prevailing winds and such demographic factors as time

spent outdoors in specified areas.

The EPA considers any pollutant that results in a lifetime cancer risk

greater than one chance in 1 million to be " of concern. "

Over all, Americans face risks of 10 chances in 1 million of developing

cancer because of pollutants in the air they breathe, according to the newly

released data.

And the data show that 20 million Americans, primarily in metropolitan

areas, face risks of at least 100 times the standard, or 100 chances in 1

million.

Six Twin Cities metro area counties - Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey,

and Washington - had the highest risk levels in Minnesota. Each was in the

top national tier of counties, with a lifetime cumulative cancer risk of 54

to 190 per million of population.

Another four metro-area counties - Carver, Rice, Sherburne, and -

were in the next tier, with a cancer risk of 43 to 54 per million. Two other

counties, St. Louis in northeastern Minnesota and Olmsted in the southeast,

were in the same category.

The exposures represent conditions in 1996, continuing at that rate for 70

years, and only deal with exposures from outdoor sources of air toxics. They

do not take into account any subsequent emissions reductions.

The data are posted at the EPA's Web site in a format that allows a user to

click on maps showing relative risk categories for selected chemicals in his

or her own county.

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Online: EPA report, www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata/ Staff writer Dennis Lien

contributed to this report.