How tougher air pollution standards could benefit certain US communities more

In the US, people in communities with higher poverty rates and large populations of Black residents are more exposed to air pollutants that are harmful to health. Photo: AFP

The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to lower air quality standards – a measure that would benefit all Americans, but especially communities with significant numbers of Black residents and higher rates of poverty, who are already more exposed to air pollution than others.

Almost everyone in the world is exposed to levels of air pollution considered by the WHO (World Health Organization) to be hazardous to health. According to a recent study by Monash University in Melbourne, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, only 0.001% of the global population are breathing air considered healthy in terms of levels of fine particulate matter.