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Sustainable Living
Sustainable Building
Cutting NYC air pollution will
boost future IQs and earnings
Researchers predict major economic benefits from lower PAH exposure
By Jack Allen
R
educing air pollution in
New York City would
result in gains in the
lifetime earnings of the future
generation of as much as $215m
as a result of increasing their
IQs, according to new research.
The study is the first to estimate
the costs of IQ loss associated with
exposure to air pollution, and is
based on prior research on prenatal
exposure to air pollutants among
low-income children by Frederica
Perera, PhD, lead author of the
current study, and colleagues at
the Columbia Center for Children’s
Environmental Health at the
Mailman School of Public Health.
The researchers made their
calculation using a hypothesised
modest reduction of .25 nanograms
per cubic meter air (ng/m3) of
ambient concentrations of
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
(PAH), a family of chemicals created
by burning fossil fuels that is
ubiquitous in urban air. The current
estimated annual mean PAH
concentration is around 1ng/m3.
Gains in IQ related to the
hypothetical 25% reduction in
PAH translated to increased
lifetime earnings of $215m.
The researchers say they have
probably underestimated the
total economic benefit associated
with reduction in prenatal PAH
exposure because it does not
include estimates of gains due to
broader neurotoxic, respiratory,
and carcinogenic effects, all also
linked with PAH. While based on
children born Ѽ