Ozone Pollution and Human Health

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Aubrie Davis
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1 Ozone Pollution and Human Health Michelle L. Bell Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Ozone Transport Commission June 13, 2013

2 Today s Presentation Trends in ozone pollution and scientific evidence Air quality policies and health benefits Ozone and climate change

3 Trends in Ozone Pollution and Scientific Evidence

4 London Fog of 1952

5 Extreme Levels - Today Beijing São Paulo Nepal Mexico City Cairo Photo: A. Gurung

6 Ozone Levels in the U.S. Figure: U.S. EPA

7 Nonattainment Areas Figure: U.S. EPA

8 EPA s Recent Scientific Assessment of Health Effects Level of evidence Short-term exposure Long-term exposure Causal Respiratory effects Likely causal CVD effects, total mortality Respiratory effects Suggestive of causal relationship Inadequate information Central nervous systems CVD effects, reproductive and developmental effects, central nervous effects, total mortality Cancer Adapted from: U.S. EPA 2012 ISA

9 Scientific Evidence for Ozone and Human Health Impacts from respiratory symptoms to premature mortality. Growing evidence for other outcomes. No evidence of a safe threshold. Strong evidence that the effects are not an artifact of temperature or particulate matter total mass (PM 2.5 ).

10 New Findings Strong evidence that the effects are not confounded by chemical components of PM 2.5. Anderson, Krall, Peng, Bell. Accepted for American Journal of Epidemiology.

11 Air Quality Policies and Health Benefits

12 Effects at Low Levels % Increase in Mortality Risk Maximum level for daily Lag 01 O 3 (ppb) Bell et al. Environmental Health Perspectives 2006

13 Health Impacts Can Occur at Low Levels (below NAAQS) Figure: U.S. EPA

14 Cost Effectiveness of Policies How do the benefits compare to the costs of air pollution policy? U.S. EPA s analysis of the Clean Air Act: Benefits more than 30 times that of costs. Key benefits from averted mortality Costs ($65 billion) Benefits ($2 trillion) Figure: Adapted from U.S. EPA

15 Ozone and Climate Change

16 Pathways for Climate Change s Impact on Air Pollution Levels Multiple pathways Precipitation, wind speed and direction, temperature Higher temperature means Faster chemical reaction rates for formation of tropospheric ozone More emissions of natural ozone precursors

17 Tropospheric Ozone Chemistry (simplified) 2 1 VOCs + NO x + heat / sunlight O 3 Precursors to ozone Secondary pollutant

18 Source: EPA 1996

19 Climate Change Impact on Biogenic Emissions Higher temperatures cause increased VOC emissions from trees Increase of 10 C can double biogenic emissions Biogenic emissions can be on the same order of magnitude as anthropogenic emissions

20 Study of Ozone, Climate Change, and Health 50 Eastern U.S. Cities Used global climate, air quality, and meteorological modeling to estimate how climate change could effect ozone levels Compares summers in the 1990s to the 2050s Bell et al. Climatic Change 2007

21 Increase in Ozone (1990s to the 2050s) Bell et al. Climatic Change 2007

22 % of Summer Days in Each O 3 Air Quality Index Category (Average Across 50 U.S. Eastern Cities) Orange (8.0%) Red (1.2%) Red (2.5%) Purple (0.3%) Orange (12.8%) Yellow (27.5%) Green (63.3%) Yellow (31.0%) Green (53.5%) Current Climate (1990s) Future A2 Climate (2050s)

23 Co-Benefits (and Co-Costs) of Climate Change and Air Quality Policies Air Quality Policies Climate Change Policies Many policies to improve air quality would lower GHG emissions. Human Health Many policies to avoid/mitigate climate change would improve air quality in the short-term.

24 Relationship between Climate Change and Air Quality Policies Bell et al. Environmental Health 2008

25 Concluding Thoughts Trends in O 3 pollution and science Substantial progress, still a concern Growing evidence for more health outcomes Air quality policies and health benefits Benefits at lower levels (including below NAAQS) Policies can be highly cost effective Ozone and climate change Health impacts under a changing climate Policy opportunities: co-benefits

26 Thank you! Website:

The impact of biogenic VOC emissions on tropospheric ozone formation in the Mid- Atlantic region of the United States

The impact of biogenic VOC emissions on tropospheric ozone formation in the Mid- Atlantic region of the United States Michelle L. Bell 1, Hugh Ellis 2 1 Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental