Older Americans who breathe in pollution from smokestacks, automobile exhaust, wildfires and other sources have a higher chance of dying early, according to a major study to be made public Wednesday.
The Health Effects Institute is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the automotive and fossil fuel industries, and they looked at health data from 6 million Medicare recipients. If the federal rules for allowable levels of fine soot had been slightly lower, as many as 143,000 deaths could have been prevented over the course of a decade.
Exposure to fine particulate matter has been linked to respiratory illness in children. The tiny particles can enter the lungs and bloodstream to affect lung function. About 20,000 deaths a year are linked to exposure to particulate matter.
The study is the first of its kind in the United States, and it shows the deadly effects of PM 2.5 on people who live in rural areas and towns with little industry.
The Health Effects Institute found a risk of dying early from exposure to air pollution even at very low levels.
The Biden administration is considering whether to strengthen the national standard for PM 2.5, which is currently set at a yearly average of 12 micrograms per cubic meter, a level higher than that recommended by the World Health Organization.
If the standard had been tightened to 10 micrograms per cubic meter, researchers said more than 143,000 deaths could have been prevented.
The study, which took four years to complete, found that reducing PM 2.5 would save a lot of lives.
This is important evidence for E.P.A. to consider.
Black and other communities of color are more at risk of dying from Covid-19 because they are more likely to be located near highways, power plants and other industrial facilities.
The Biden administration made tighter regulation of emissions from power plants, factories and other industrial sites central to its strategy to address environmental justice.
Every five years, the E.P.A. must review the latest science and update the soot standard. Despite growing evidence of the harm to public health caused by particulate matter, the Trump administration did not strengthen the standard when it conducted the most recent review.
Researchers focused on people living in rural areas and other places that are not well monitored by the EPA because they are not well populated.
Stein moved to Jasper County with her family after studying in Iowa for a year. She said that wildfire smoke is a major concern in her rural area near Rock Creek State Park.
She said that it was idyllic, but that it had the Western wildfires or harvest time. We think there are no air quality issues. That is simply false.
A final rule from the E.P.A. is expected to be issued in the spring of 2023, according to a spokesman for the agency.
The industries that emit pollutants are expected to fight the new soot pollution rule.
The Health Effects Institute research was not reviewed by the American Petroleum Institute. The trade group said that the current scientific evidence shows that the existing standards are designed to protect public health.
Since the 1970s, emissions of traditional pollutants like PM 2.5 have dropped because of the use of cleaner automobile fuels and the rise of natural gas in power generation.
Some experts said companies were resigned to the fact that the rule would be tightened, but were worried about how far it would go.
Jeffrey Holmstead, a lawyer who served in the E.P.A. in both Bush administrations, said it was a question of how much.
A reduction in allowable limits would be very costly for companies. He noted that it is difficult for state governments to regulate fine soot pollution in communities that do not have major industrial centers.
If you set a level that is too high, we're going to prohibit any kind of combustion engines.
Harvard University produced a landmark study in 1990 that found that living in heavily polluted cities can shave two to three years off a person's lifespan.
Hazel said she was a prime example of someone living with the cumulative effects of air pollution because she lived in Phoenix.
Ms. Chandler moved to Arizona from Southern California in 1977 and found the air to be more pleasant. As the city's population exploded, so did her asthma and breathing problems.
She said that she doesn't need to look at the air quality alert anymore.
I can tell if I wake up with a bad cough by the amount of coughing in my chest.
Ms. Chandler is a consultant with Moms Clean Air Force, a nonprofit environmental group, and she said she worried about older people with heart conditions and other health issues that can be worsened by pollution. She is more concerned about young children.
I moved to Phoenix when I was 30 and it still affects my ability to breathe.
The head of epidemiology at Colorado State University said that studying areas that are not well monitored presents a challenge because it could be difficult to verify levels of exposure to pollution.
Dr. Peel, who was not part of the research team and independently reviewed the study, said it was the most comprehensive she had seen.
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