You're listening to midday edition I'm Allison St. John. And for Maureen Cavanaugh. Quick reminder that tomorrow morning will be hosting a live show aboard the USS Midway to honor the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in the end of the event from the war. Tune in for midday tomorrow. Today we're focusing on an issue unfolding now in the Imperial Valley just about wanted him out to the east of us. Imperial County holds the record in California for hospitalizations from asthma. And those most frequently admitted are children under five years old. A study commissioned by the Center for investigative reporting and carried out by Senegal State University professor has revealed the underlying causes of the dangers toxic air that people believe -- breathed a long Calexico Mexicana. To talk about the research and what we are discovering and what if anything is being done about it are my guess, Zohir Chowdhury says the professor and the environmental health division of the graduate school of Public health at SDSU. That you so much for joining us. Zohir . Thank you for inviting me. And also on the phone we have Patricia Leigh Brown who wrote a story on revealed which is the red water for the Center for Investigative Reporting. Patty, thank you for joining us. Sure. Good to have you with us. I would like to start with you, Zohir we know the air quality in the Imperial Valley is not good. That is not news but I think we've assumed that main culprit was agriculture. Agricultural burning. Tell us what has your research discovered is really the main cause underlying the problem ? Yes, that is how we started investigating in this area. We thought it was agriculture burning. And then we started looking at tenure of data we look at wind direction, wind speed, and then we looked at the chemical composition and we found that agricultural burning was important, but not the dominant source of the problem. It was gasoline, diesel and industrial emission coming south of the border Is it connected with the border wait ? the border weighed as well. Yes. Is that one of the main issues the fact that cars idling ? Yes, from our study it is hard to distinguish the two, but the border wait time is predominately contributor to gasoline and diesel emission in that location ? okay. Of course, the border crossing here in San Diego, they have just increase the number of lanes so the wait times are shorter, but in Mexicali, what is it like there ? Patricia, you have been there -- Patty, how long a car sitting there spewing -- see a photograph they sit there for several hours in some cases a chain of over a mile and a half long of cars that have to snake their way through city streets to get across the border, so they are standing there idling a lot of the time in busy hours. So now you interviewed a lot of people about this issue, Patty and you wrote a very nicely written story, very easy-to-read story on the revealed website that is revealed news.org. The what is that you find is the main effect on the people in Imperial Valley on poor air quality. Families and pediatricians including Dr. sonic on who I spent some time with are concerned just because there are so many children especially in the Imperial Valley who are having trouble breathing. And it is scary. The first time I visited which was last May, I just hit the street and Calexico where it was incredibly windy and I would be driving down Highway 111 and there would be moments when you absolutely could not see. So it is not only the traffic and the pollution from across the border, but it is also just dust blowing off the desert and combination of all of these things are sending a lot of kids to the emergency room. So, Zohir , use a dust. Is his dust coming from the north we heard about this open seat having trouble with cost. Yes, our study we look at wind direction and we see that when comes from the eastern side, where a lot of the desert dust is, that is when you see a pic of pollution as well. So the dust definitely is very important as well. And Patty, you write about a place of strange perfumes. What kind of things do spell when you're there ? You smell hey you smell manure, let's see, you smell sort of -- you know, agricultural smells and you smell burning. I visited a Walmart one Sunday and there was a big just sort of burning of snobbery going on in a vacant lot right next door so the dust was sort of permeating the parking lot. It is -- yes, it is indeed a strange perfume. Yes, we laugh, but in fact, it really could be life-threatening, right? To some kids ? Yes, it is life-threatening. And yes, the kids are going to the emergency room at nearly twice the rate of other children in the state and many of these children are low income their families are farmworkers or working in agriculture, construction and other businesses and there have been many studies that indicate that children who are growing up in poverty have a greater vulnerability because they live closer to major highways and they often don't have health insurance and they are exposed to pesticides and -- How are they exposed to pesticides ? if they are living near the fields, which they often are. So your Notting Zohir did you find that in your research ? We have looked that specifies --'s pesticides specifically because agriculture is the dominant source of income and that area so it makes sense that the societies in the air of the soil, so it makes sense. In your article you talk about a school where they are doing a overhead spraying right next to the school. Yes, I talked to a school principal in Heber who had actually file the complaint because the crop duster had come too close to schools which is -- than what is legally permissible and the kids were waiting outside the classroom to go to school. The other thing about the school is there is a huge feedlot, literally bordering the school in Heber. And I heard about another instance in Calexico where a dad told me he was dropping his child off in the morning and there was a big agricultural burn happening at pretty close range to school, even though it is not supposed to happen, but I guess they're only three inspectors for the air strip controlled 4500 mi.². I think you find also quite a shortage of doctors. You said they don't have shell -- health insurance but even if they did, how many doctors are there out there to deal with kids who have this kind of issue ? That was the Robert Wood Johnson foundation did a study where there is one Dr. for every -- it's about 4500 patients in Imperial County and there's three times worse ratio, I think than anywhere else in the state of California. And one of the things that it looks like might be happening is that people do not understand the underlying cause of asthma and effect, you write that perhaps some families think it is an emotional issue that has to do with strong emotions. Yes, it can be triggered by strong emotions, including laughter. I had several kids tell me that they had to go to the school nurse when someone told the joke in class and they couldn't stop laughing and that they have trouble breathing. So -- yes, that is sad. So here, you know, when you did this study, how did you do the research on what kind of data worried collecting, Zohir We collected data over 10 year span from the Imperial County. So they measure air pollution every six days and Calexico and in other locations as well, but we focused almost all of our energy Calexico because we had chemical speciation in these location as well. So with that chemicals be seated air pollution data over 10 years and then we looked at wind speed, wind direction, and we started doing source apportionment modeling we call it which is understanding what are the sources responsible for air pollution and over the year 2010, we essentially found multiple reasons of air pollution, not on the act burning, which is also -- Mexicali has a big [ indiscernible ] industry, correct? Yes. Did that figure in your study ? yes, so beside cross-border traffic and general traffic exhaust, the second important cause based on our modeling approach was industrial commission and we know that specific industrial plants that are present at the border are [ indiscernible ] industry's. So how does the air quality in Imperial Valley compared to other regions. When you think about LA when my husband was born there was a young man that could even see the mountains they are and that has been cleaned up since then. His Imperial Valley and County down by the border there similar combats and is it something that it can be done about? When we look at nonattainment area in California, we have Los Angeles, Riverside and we have a Central Valley and Imperial Valley. So nonattainment is that. And if you compare Imperial Counties annual level with the Central Valley in downtown Los Angeles, they are slightly lower -- even now, which is lower, Los Angeles or --? Imperial Valley is lower. Slightly less polluted than Los Angeles? However, all three locations are in attainment which essentially -- nonattainment. Also their only on 74,000 people in the Imperial Valley. A lot of people in Los Angeles. So that might be one reason why people aren't paying attention. Patty, what is the -- are there standards, air-quality standards that the EPA is upholding? Yes, but they have been -- Zohir researched, they have been out of attainment particularly in Calexico, although the EPA has been involved in something called a binational border health commission because really it is binational air shed that we are talking about and they have actually put money in the installing of air monitors in Baja and also kicked in some money to help pave the roads in Mexicali because that is one of the other sources of pollution are 40% I think of Mexicali is Metropolitan area streets are dirt, so whenever even a person walks by with a wheelbarrow, they start kicking up dust as they go along. So you've done this research and is it true to say that perhaps this has sparked action among Zohir , have you seen anything happening now that lead you to think maybe more attention would be focused on this problem? yes, I'm really happy about what position is doing because that really brings the science in front of people where people can start taking action, so I can see right now this problem gaining more momentum . Patty, what do you hope might come out of this study in your articles? Are using any evidence of people paying attention to what you discovered and written so well about? Well, there is a local group in Imperial Valley called committee said the goal and they are in the process of installing 40 air monitors, not the official state or county air monitors, but their own monitors because they are making the point that often these sources of pollution are pretty localized. So they are trying to get a handle on that and hopefully that will bring more attention to the issue also. And Zohir , you spent 10 years doing this research and of course you know we all -- those of us spend time in the ivory tower hope that the work will not just say stay on a bookshelf somewhere, what you see is the potential progress that might be made as a result of what you are finding? I would like to make a quick question. I didn't spend 10 years on the research. And that the 10 years of data. Icy. Yet, but I did spend about a couple of years on this research to have years. That the big chunk of time of work and research. So when you look at all the people who are responsible for air quality, both of you, is there any agency or any nonprofit or government that you feel like his waking up to this or is responsible or should be waking up to this to take some action? From my perspective, it's more I think funding is needed to continue working in this area and understanding a lot of this underlying causes better and I think right now, this article and things happening in the region, we may be seeing more coming up as well. Okay. I would like to thank you both very much for joining us and bringing this to our attention. Patty Brown, worth looking at her article on the reveal red site for the investigative reporting and software which is with SDSU graduate of public health. Thank you so much.
San Diego State University researchers have raised new questions about bad air found in the Imperial Valley, which has long been blamed on agricultural burns.
Their study finds diesel and gas exhaust from idling cars at the Calexico border crossing are the dominant source of pollution. The work was commissioned by Reveal, a public radio program that features work from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
“We looked at wind direction — when wind comes from the eastern side that’s when you see a pique in pollution,” Zohir Chowdhury, associate professor of environmental health at SDSU, told KPBS Midday Edition on Thursday.
Patricia Leigh Brown, a journalist who wrote about the poor air quality, said children in the region are going to emergency rooms at a rate of two times higher than the California average.
Some children would have to see the nurse if they had trouble breathing after laughing at a joke, Brown said.
“There are so many children especially in the Imperial Valley who are having trouble breathing, and it’s scary,” Brown said. “The first time I visited, which was last May, I hit a street that was incredibly windy. There would be moments when you absolutely couldn’t see.”
