LOMA LINDA — There is a link between asthma in children and freight-rail yard pollution, according to Loma Linda University School of Public Health researchers who released the first study assessing all 18 major freight rail yards in California.
and found a link with freight-rail yard pollution to asthma-related emergency room visits in children. The study was recently published in Preventive Medicine Reports.
This large-scale rail yard study is a follow-up to the initial study of a rail yard located in San Bernardino, which was known as the ENRRICH Project and funded by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
The new study’s co-principal investigator, Dr. Rhonda Spencer-Hwang, says the research team discovered a strong relationship between the likelihood of a child visiting a hospital emergency room for an asthma-related condition and residential proximity to one of California’s 18 major rail yards.
The team found that many of those affected most by rail yard pollution are low-income, minority children between the ages of 0 to 4 years of age. Children are also at highest risk of permanent damage because their lungs are undergoing changes that affect respiratory health the rest of their lives, researchers said.
“We found that the youngest, most vulnerable children suffer the most,” Spencer-Hwang said.
The team evaluated nearly 110,000 asthma-related emergency room visits among children 0-14 years in age across the state. It has been previously documented that large diesel engines, like those used in locomotives, emit large quantities of fine particulate matter, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene and arsenic, which all are known carcinogens.
The pollutants are harmful to children’s respiratory system and health in general, and they additionally create a concern for adversely impacting academic performance and jeopardizing future career prospects.
Spencer-Hwang said children living less than 10 miles from a freight rail yard were at significantly greater risk of using the emergency room for asthma than those living more than 10 miles away. Within a 10-mile radius from the rail yard, those living 5-10 miles away were also more likely to seek treatment than their peers who lived closer, within 5 miles of the rail yard.
The number of asthma-related emergency room visits was even greater when studying the five California rail yards that emit the largest volume of particulates. The rail yard in San Bernardino is No. 5 on that list.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America says 10 people die from asthma every day in the United States. Spencer-Hwang says it is the third leading cause of hospitalization among American children, impacting 7.1 million of them.
She was recently appointed to the steering committee for AB-617, the non-vehicular air pollution bill, which was signed into law by California Gov. Jerry Brown on July 26, 2017. The committee will establish air-quality monitors at several locations in San Bernardino.
Spencer-Hwang said she hopes AB-617 will provide the opportunity to measure the distribution of pollutants stemming from the freight rail yard in San Bernardino.
“We also hope it will allow us to be better informed on exposure patterns so we can create strategic interventions to reduce pollutant exposures for community residents, especially children,” she said.
