Wildfire smoke now bigger prenatal threat than human sources of air pollution
A new study indicates that wildfire smoke is offsetting the health benefits gained from decades of air pollution regulations, particularly for prenatal health. Researchers found that smoke exposure is disproportionately affecting low-income and vulnerable populations.
Why it matters
This research underscores the growing public health crisis caused by climate-driven wildfires, which threaten to undo decades of environmental policy progress.
two steps backward… Wildfire smoke now bigger prenatal threat than human sources of air pollution Regulations reduced prenatal exposure to harmful emissions, but wildfire smoke is erasing gains.
4 Credit: Anadolu / Contributor Credit: Anadolu / Contributor Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav In 1965, a presidential advisory panel issued a report warning that pervasive chemical and carbon pollution was harming environmental health and changing the climate. Five years later, President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act.
Since that 1970 law and its amendments were passed, combined emissions of a half-dozen harmful air pollutants from vehicles and industrial sources have decreased by nearly 80 percent .
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