One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Children Got Significantly Healthier As SoCal's Air Got Cleaner, 20 Year Study Finds
Thanks to dramatically better air quality, Southern California children today have significantly fewer respiratory problems than they did two decades ago, according to study conducted by scientists at the University of Southern California.
The study observed for respiratory symptoms like persistent runny noses, sneezes and coughs, in three cohorts of Southern California children between 1993 and 2012, while simultaneously monitoring air quality in the communities where the children lived.
During that time, diesel, soot, and other kinds of fine particle pollution dropped by almost half as state air quality regulators came down hard on sources of pollution, and vehicles became dramatically cleaner.
"This is one of the few times that we have been able to report good news, and this is very likely a direct result of the science-based policies that have been put in place," Berhane explained to USC News. "The message that clean air leads to better health in children should be taken seriously because it has implications for how we live and how productive we become."
The largest gains were seen in children who have asthma, who, in 2012, were 32 percent less likely to show persistent respiratory symptoms than those twenty years prior. Non-asthmatic children showed a 21-percent drop in symptoms.
According to the San Bernardino Sun, the same group of USC scientists determined children today also have significantly stronger lungs than did the children of L.A. past. Children today can take deeper breaths, hold more air, and exhale more strongly.
Southern California's air, though now the cleanest it has been in the past 50 years, is still the most polluted in the nation.
Sponsored message
On Wednesday, the L.A. City Council adopted new rules to try and help mitigate the effects of pollution in some of the city’s most polluted neighborhoods. Aside from developing a strategy to clean up sources of industrial pollution in Wilmington, Pacoima, and Boyle Heights, the city is also pushing for the installation of air filtration systems in homes and schools, according to the L.A. Times.
Progress comes slowly.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
