Air Raid

Americans love stuff that kills germs and decimates pests… or just makes a room smell good. Smokers love their smokes too. Folks buying big diesel trucks love saving money by purchasing new vehicles with vastly less expensive rebuilt diesel engines. What do these people have in common? They are decimating the atmosphere with toxins. Those trucks? Because of a very intentional statutory loophole (based on a strategically-placed GOP lobbying effort from a generous campaign-contributing truck retailer), these rebuilt diesel engines do not have to comply with the same standards that apply to fully brand-new diesel trucks… and these older engines can emit as much as 50 times the toxic effluents of a new, fully-compliant engine. Very consistent with the Trump administration’s position on greenhouse gasses.

But aside from vehicles and stationary industrial polluters, ordinary Americans may not be aware how they too are poisoning the very air they breathe. Los Angeles is the poster-city for American air pollution. So… “When it comes to air quality, the products you use to smell nice or keep your kitchen clean could do just as much damage as the car you drive. A new study of the air around Los Angeles finds that consumer and industrial products now rival tailpipe emissions as a source of harmful atmospheric pollutants.

“The findings, published Thursday [2/15] in the journal Science, reveal a shift in the balance of polluting power in cities — one that may prompt researchers and regulators to step up their focus on a wide range of goods such as hairspray, paint and deodorant… ‘As we control some of the biggest sources in the past, other sources are emerging in relative importance, such as the use of these everyday chemical products,’ said study leader Brian McDonald, a research chemist with the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…

“Air pollution is a leading cause of health problems worldwide. Exposure to ground-level ozone and particulate matter contributes to asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and other serious ailments, according to the World Health Organization. A report last year in the journal Lancet ranked air pollution fifth among risk factors to human health, behind malnutrition, poor diet, high blood pressure and tobacco use.” Los Angeles Times, February 16th. We call those air borne toxins “volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.” And obviously, Los Angeles is not the only city where these VOCs are an issue.

“[The scientific researchers] made highly sensitive chemical measurements of air in the Los Angeles area. They also pored over chemical production statistics from industry and regulatory agencies… The work revealed that many common products — including pesticides, paints, printing inks, adhesives, cleaning agents and personal care items such as body spray and hairspray — were full of volatile organic compounds that could be released into the air.

“Since many of these VOC-containing products are used indoors, the scientists reviewed previous research on the air quality of interior spaces. Sure enough, the indoor concentrations of VOCs from these products were roughly seven times higher than they were in ambient air… The researchers think that some of those compounds were probably leaking out of buildings and polluting the greater environment…

“Part of the problem is in the very nature of these household items, scientists said. While fuel is meant to be burned, the VOCs in many consumer products are meant to escape into the air… ‘Many of the volatile chemical products that we use every day are intended to simply evaporate,’ said study co-author Jessica Gilman, a research chemist with NOAA [the federal Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]. ‘Think of using hand sanitizer in cold and flu season, scented products, the time spent waiting for paint, ink and glue to dry.’… All of these, she said, involve ‘waiting for these volatile chemical products to evaporate.’

“The study authors pointed out that while U.S. regulations on VOC-containing products emphasize the need to mitigate the ozone and other toxins that are created when VOCs react in the atmosphere, those regulations currently exempt many chemicals that lead to secondary organic aerosols — which make up much of urban air pollution…

“This new work points to a need to adapt research, and perhaps tailor regulations, to the changing pattern of emissions in cities, said Alastair Lewis, a researcher at the University of York in England who was not involved in the research.

“‘As knowledge of VOC chemistry improves, it will become possible to develop more targeted approaches to reducing impacts,’ Lewis wrote in a commentary that accompanied the study. ‘Prioritizing those VOCs with the greatest aerosol formation potential — for example, through reformulation of consumer products — would be one option. Industry sectors that have until now been left outside of VOC emissions controls may, in a cleaner electrified future, receive more direct attention from regulators.’” LA Times.

Before we implement cleaner aerosols, paints, cleaners, etc., before we create agents to counter this much-overlooked form of pollution, we might just want to ask ourselves before we use one of these VOC-laden products if we really need to do so.

I’m Peter Dekom, and life is complex, but a little common sense laced with a few key facts can go a long way to make it manageable and us responsible.