An EPA study reveals that public schools with the highest air toxic exposure risks have disproportionately higher numbers of disabled, Hispanic, Latino, and Asian students, highlighting health disparities.

RT’s Three Key Takeaways:

  1. Disproportionate Exposure Risks: Public schools with the highest air toxic exposure risks have significantly higher proportions of Hispanic, Latino, Asian, and disabled students compared to other schools.
  2. Geographic Concentration: Schools in California, Colorado, and Louisiana are overrepresented among those with the highest respiratory hazard indexes.
  3. Future Research Plans: Researchers aim to expand the analysis using updated data and additional sociodemographic factors, such as poverty and urban settings, to further explore disparities.

EPA study finds that US public schools with the highest potential exposure risk to air toxics have higher proportions of disabled Latino, Hispanic, and Asian children.

Children are at greater risk from inhaled air pollutants than adults, as they have higher respiratory rates. Research has shown that air pollutants in the form of respiratory toxicants (such as some pesticides and solvents) can represent a significant health risk to children. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has completed a nationwide study to assess the estimated non-cancer exposure risks of public school students to ambient air respiratory toxicants. The analysis also examined how disability status, race, and ethnicity were related to exposure risk in more than 88,000 regular public schools located in the 50 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.  

Research findings were presented on Dec 9 at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis in Austin, Texas, by Mariah Amter, Oakridge Institute for Science and Education Research Fellow.  

The statistical analysis paired publicly available sociodemographic data for each school with respiratory hazard indexes at the census tract-level from the 2018 EPA Air Toxics Screening Assessment. Each school was ranked by its respiratory hazard index, or the sum of hazard quotients for 42 different air respiratory toxicants. (The higher the hazard index, the greater the risk for potential adverse health effects.) The top five percent of schools were selected as “higher exposure risk schools.” 

The analysis compared the proportion of disabled children in these higher exposure-risk schools to those in the rest of the schools and made a similar comparison based on the racial and ethnic composition of students. 

Research findings:

  • The majority of schools with the highest hazard indexes are located in California, Colorado, and Louisiana.  
  • The results indicate there is a significantly higher proportion of racial and ethnic minority children in “higher exposure risk schools” compared to racial and ethnic minority children in the rest of schools.   
  • There is a significantly higher proportion of Hispanic and Latino children in the “higher exposure risk schools” compared to the rest of the schools. 
  • There is a higher proportion of Hispanic and Latino children with a disability in the “higher exposure risk schools” compared to the rest of schools. 

Going forward, the researchers plan to conduct a similar analysis using 2020 EPA AirToxScreen data taken at the smaller census block level and examine additional sociodemographic variables including poverty and urbanicity.

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