Railway Yard May Be Related To Cancer Risk
A state air-quality official said a recently released study shows the levels of air pollution-related cancer risks around the BNSF Railway yard in San Bernardino are on a high. It can be mentioned that San Bernardino has a whole bunch emission of sources in one place.
In Barstow, where the rail yard lies northwest of the city, trains and other pollution sources within a one-mile zone around the yard coughed up an estimated 54 tons of diesel pollution. The cancer danger that comes from living in a given area is high, nearly 1,000 per million people within the South Coast Air Basin of Southern California.
In San Bernardino, researchers calculated that cancer risks around the rail yard jumped above that background level by 500 chances or more per million for about 3,800 people who live on 430 acres near the rail yard boundaries. In Barstow, rail yard-related diesel emissions increased the cancer risk by 250 or more people in a million in the area most affected by the desert complex.
Researchers’ calculations of cancer risks were based on assumptions of how likely someone might be to fall ill with cancer if exposed to diesel emissions over a 70-year period. Cancer risks dropped off in areas that were further and further from the rail yards.
The rail company has agreed to work with state regulators to study emissions around rail yards. The firm is planning to reduce air pollution by buying cleaner equipment. BNSF and Union Pacific, which has a rail yard in Colton, will spend a combined $300 million between 2000 and 2010 on technology to reduce diesel emissions.
Source: THE SUN
Filed under Cancer, Pollution | Tags: Cancer, diesel emissions., Railway yard |
