NYC Air Quality: A Health Equity Issue
Air pollution in New York City is at the lowest level ever recorded, according to the most recent New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS).
Despite this progress over the past several decades, air quality is often determined by the neighborhoods we live in.
In the city’s poorest neighborhoods, concentrations of multiple air pollutants remain a major cause of illness and death – particularly among vulnerable residents, such as the very young, seniors and those with pre-existing health conditions.
Specifically, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – the most harmful urban air pollutant – is small enough to get deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, making lung and heart disease worse. PM2.5 contributes to low birth weight, hospital admissions and premature deaths and is known to cause cancer.
Our study found that traffic-related PM2.5 exposures and their associated health effects disproportionately affect the city’s poorest neighborhoods. The levels of the pollutant in the air in poorer neighborhoods is 1.5-times higher than wealthier neighborhoods. New Yorkers in high-poverty areas are admitted to the emergency room for asthma more than eight times as often as residents of low-poverty areas of the city.
What We Are Doing?
These findings reveal the need to reduce emissions from traffic in and around New York City to improve the health of all New Yorkers, especially those living in low-income neighborhoods.
In December 2008, we established the NYCCAS to monitor the difference in air quality across the city. It is the largest ongoing urban air monitoring program of any U.S. city and is used to track changes in air quality over time, inform policy and study health effects.
In collaboration with Queens College of the City University of New York, NYCCAS provides data to help inform OneNYC, the City’s sustainability program. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal with OneNYC is for New York City to achieve the cleanest air quality of any large U.S. city by 2030.
While we are progressing toward that goal, there is much more work to be done, since we want to ensure ALL New Yorkers – no matter the neighborhoods in which they live – can breathe the same clean air.
