New York and California have the most toxic air in the nation, according to a new EPA report . But what does this really tell us, asks critic Joel Schwartz.
"Manhattan has the highest air pollution cancer risks in the country because it is so densely populated. Packing all those people into a small area means more emissions per square mile. The average New Yorker does drive less than the average American, but not by nearly enough to make up for the higher population densities. And Manhattanites need to have just as much food and clothing trucked in as anyone elseâ€"not to mention all those Prada handbags and Bugaboo baby strollers.
...The fact that even worst-case air pollution cancer risks are tiny hasn't stopped health experts from sounding false alarms. For example, according to the Associated Press "George Thurston, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University, said the [EPA] figures are further evidence that living in a heavily polluted city such as Los Angeles or New York is roughly equal to living with a smoker.
...Thanks to EPA, we now know that air pollution poses at worst a negligible cancer risk. On a more realistic assessment of the evidence, the actual cancer risks from air pollution are at worst a tiny fraction of the already tiny risk claimed by EPA."
Thanks to Joel Schwartz
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