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DUH! #2: Soot from Cement
Plants, Other Sources, Linked to Lung Cancer
Downwind the plumes of pollution generated by Midlothian's three cement
plants, the following scholarly conclusion will come as no surprise - the
soot from those plants, as well as diesel engines, and other kinds of
factories appears to cause lung cancer.
A new university study, published in the Journal of the AMA, found
long-term exposure to the air pollution - termed particulate matter (PM) by
government regulators - in some of America's biggest metropolitan areas
significantly raises the risk of dying from lung cancer and is about as
dangerous as living with a smoker.
The study of a half-million people by Brigham Young and New York
universities provides the strongest evidence yet of the health dangers of
the pollution levels found in many cities like DFW and counties like Ellis.
Lung cancer death rates were compared with average pollution levels. The
researchers found that lung cancer deaths increased 8% for every increase of
10 micrograms. Other heart-and lung-related causes of death increased 6% for
every 10 microgram increase.
Allen Dearry, a scientist at the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, said the lung cancer risks were comparable to those faced
by nonsmokers who live with smokers and are exposed longterm to secondhand
cigarette smoke. Such risks have been estimated at 16% to 24% higher than
those faced by people living with nonsmokers.
Northern Ellis County came within a single monitor reading of being
declared in violation of the Clean Air Act for particulate matter pollution
in the 1990's.
A TNRCC monitoring site directly across Highway 67 from TXI's Midlothian
cement plant and it's wholly-owned Chaparral Steel plant recorded two
24-hour violations for PM - one reaching as high as 99 micrograms - in two
years..If just one more violation had been recorded over the next two years,
it would have triggered the same kind of process that's resulted in the
DFW's ozone clean -up plan.
What happened? The state moved the monitor to a location further away,
and less downwind from TXI and Chaparral, supposedly because of the widening
of Highway 67.
Cement plants produce more particulate matter than almost any other
industry. And they produce a more toxic variety than most. Because many
cement plants now burn hazardous waste, tires, and plastics for fuel instead
of, or in addition to, gas and coal, their soot is more poisonous.
It's not only the danger of the soot itself, it's all the toxic residues
that are hitching a ride when you suck that soot deep into your lungs. |
