EPA reports says risk from Kane air roughly similar to U.S. average
By JONATHAN BILYK – jbilyk@kcchronicle.com
Simply breathing the air in Kane County is not likely to make you sick.
But a new report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicates that breathing the local air is likely just as hazardous to your health as most other places in America.
Last month, the U.S. EPA released its National Scale Air Toxics Assessment report for the country. The report, which is released every three years, analyzes the amount of almost 200 industrial pollutants present in the air in locations across the country.
The 2009 report deals with air quality measured and analyzed from 2002, the most recent year for which the analyzed data is available, the EPA said.
The report indicates that Kane County’s air quality, as measured by the number of measured pollutants present in the air, is roughly on par with that observed in the United States as a whole.
Overall, the risk posed to residents of Kane County to develop cancer as a result of various toxins in the air is about 37 in 1 million, the EPA report said, meaning that of every 1 million people, about 37 of them would be likely to contract cancer as a result of simply breathing the air.
Nationally, that risk level stood at about 36 in 1 million. Statewide, the risk was 32 in 1 million.
The EPA considers the acceptable level to be no more than one in 1 million for such toxins.
Other counties in the Chicago metropolitan region logged similar numbers, the NSATA report said. Cook County registered the highest cancer risk at 51 in 1 million, followed by DuPage County at 39 in 1 million, Lake County at 37 in 1 million, Will County at 35 in 1 million and McHenry County at 31 in 1 million.
To the west and south, DeKalb County recorded a risk factor of 26 in 1 million and Kendall County’s risk was 29 in 1 million.
Of the chemicals recorded, benzene posed the greatest risk, the EPA said, with a factor of 11 in 1 million from that chemical alone.
According to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, long-term exposure to benzene can cause leukemia. The chemical is widely used in industry, including in the production of plastics and rubber. It also is present in crude oil and gasoline and is released into the atmosphere from automotive exhaust.
Other chemicals with concentrations contributing to the overall cancer risk in the county are:
• Carbon tetrachloride, a chemical used to make refrigerants. It posed a risk of 7.1 in 1 million, the EPA report said.
• Acetaldehyde, a chemical released into the air mainly through automotive exhaust. It posed a risk of 4.4 in 1 million.
• Butadiene, a chemical used to produce rubber for such items as automobile tires. It posed a risk of 3.2 in 1 million.
• Napthalene, a chemical present in crude oil and coal that is used to produce such items as various plastics and moth balls, among others. It posed a risk of 2.26 in 1 million.
• Ethylene Oxide, a chemical used primarily to manufacture ethylene glycol, which then is used to produce liquid antifreeze and deicers. Ethylene oxide posed a risk of 1.8 in 1 million in 2002.
• Dichlorobenzene, a chemical used to produce various disinfectants and deodorizers and chemicals that are used to produce plastics. It posed a risk of 1.6 in 1 million.
Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, said the results seemed to present an accurate picture in terms of the industrial pollutants measured.
But he faulted the report for not better examining the risk posed by soot and other particulate matter released in the burning of diesel fuel.
He noted that environmental advocacy group the Clean Air Task Force analyzed air quality data from the EPA’s 2006 NSATA report and concluded that, when applying a formula created by the California Air Resource Board, the cancer risk posed by diesel soot was much greater.
In Kane County, for instance, that risk factor from diesel particles stood at 1 in 2,384, or 419.4 in 1 million, according to the CATF’s Diesel Soot Health Impacts calculator.
The EPA, however, said it did not include such information in its analysis of the 2002 air quality data because the agency has yet to develop a risk estimate for diesel soot.
As to the sources of the toxic substances in Kane County’s air, Urbaszewski said it would be difficult to say.
“We’re dealing with so many chemicals here and a lot of industrial facilities in this region,” he said. “It would be very hard to say which are responsible for the lion’s share of the pollution.”
How toxic is the air you breathe?
Kane County, total cancer risk: 37 in 1 million
National total, cancer risk: 36 in 1 million
Source: U.S. EPA National Scale Air Toxin Assessment
