The poor air quality of Los Angeles and its causes are the stuff of legends. The traffic, smog and stale air of the L.A. basin is bemoaned in movies, lamented about in songs, and constantly punctuates conversations as travelers go in or out of the Valley.
These same factors also make Los Angeles interesting and important to researchers seeking to study the causes and effects of smog.
UCLA researchers are working with local, state and federal environmental agencies to better understand the health effects of air pollution and smog, as well as why these factors are a prevalent problem in the L.A. region.
“You can really see the bad air here; around sunset when I am walking up the hill to the dorms on campus, I can look across the soccer field and see a veil. But I’ve noticed this week, with all the wind, the view has been irregularly clear,” said Heidi Winner, copresident of Environmental Bruins.
“There is a contrast between normal L.A. air and what healthy air should look like,” Winner said.
Student organizations on campus such as Environmental Bruins work to coordinate community-service events, as well as host speakers to help educate students on the causes of air pollution and the potential health effects.
In 2006, Los Angeles was named the city with the worst air quality by the Air Resources Board of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Previous studies looked at the health effects of both air-pollution particles and ozone and have found they can have detrimental effects on health. Our purpose is to help create a plan to control and reduce these effects with more research,” said Carol Bohnenkamp, an environmental scientist for the Air Resources Board.
The adverse health effects of pollution can include diseases of the lungs, specifically worsening asthma symptoms, and complications with respiratory symptoms, said Andre Nel, codirector of the Southern California Particle Center.
“We have some evidence to conclude that air-pollution particles can lead to a possible increase in the number of people with asthma, stunted lung growth in children, increased heart attacks and increase in rhythm disturbances of the heart that can lead to death,” Nel said.
Individuals who live near freeways, and both the young and old, are most susceptible to these adverse health effects.
In a study released in January by the Air Resources Board, scientists found that the level of mortality for cardiovascular deaths in certain counties in California were related to the pollution levels in major cities in those counties.
The EPA works at the federal and state levels to study the health effects of ozone and air-pollution particles in areas including the Southern California coast, Bohnenkamp said.
Studies about the L.A. ports and the Long Beach area are being expanded to the south coast to include larger surrounding areas.
These studies are aimed at monitoring human exposure to the pollutants and specifically the influence of the traffic going to and from the Los Angeles International Airport on ozone levels, said Rebecca Rosen, an environmental scientist for the Air Resources Board.
Research helps policymakers understand the activities that contribute to poor air quality, and allows scientists to make better recommendations on how to combat the potential health dangers.
The causes of air pollution are relevant to L.A. residents because the local geography and meteorology creates environments for these harmful factors to collect.
“Specifically for L.A., we have a large city with freeways, traffic and the San Pedro Harbor. The oceans bring in fog and causes temperature changes; the topography contributes as well. We are close to the ocean and we’re surrounded by mountains in a basin containing a lot of human activity,” Nel said.