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Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice

This article contributes to distributive environmental justice (EJ) research on air pollution by analyzing racial/ethnic and related intra-categorical disparities in health risk from exposure to on-road hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Harris County, Texas. Previous studies in this urban area have...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Loustaunau, Michel G., Chakraborty, Jayajit
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6720268/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31426575
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162968
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author Loustaunau, Michel G.
Chakraborty, Jayajit
author_facet Loustaunau, Michel G.
Chakraborty, Jayajit
author_sort Loustaunau, Michel G.
collection PubMed
description This article contributes to distributive environmental justice (EJ) research on air pollution by analyzing racial/ethnic and related intra-categorical disparities in health risk from exposure to on-road hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Harris County, Texas. Previous studies in this urban area have not examined intra-ethnic heterogeneity in EJ outcomes or disproportionate exposure to vehicular pollutants. Our goal was to determine how the EJ implications of cancer risk from exposure to on-road HAP sources differ across and within each major racial/ethnic group (Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites), based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (2011) and American Community Survey (2009–2013). Statistical analyses are based on generalized estimating equations which account for clustering of analytic units. Results indicated that Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks are exposed to significantly higher cancer risk than non-Hispanic Whites. When each racial/ethnic group was disaggregated based on contextually relevant characteristics, individuals who are in poverty, foreign-born, renters, and have limited English proficiency are found to be disproportionately located in areas exposed to significantly higher cancer risk, regardless of their major racial/ethnic designation. Our findings underscore the need to conduct intra-categorical EJ analysis for uncovering inequalities that get concealed when broadly defined racial/ethnic categories are used.
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spelling pubmed-67202682019-10-30 Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice Loustaunau, Michel G. Chakraborty, Jayajit Int J Environ Res Public Health Article This article contributes to distributive environmental justice (EJ) research on air pollution by analyzing racial/ethnic and related intra-categorical disparities in health risk from exposure to on-road hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Harris County, Texas. Previous studies in this urban area have not examined intra-ethnic heterogeneity in EJ outcomes or disproportionate exposure to vehicular pollutants. Our goal was to determine how the EJ implications of cancer risk from exposure to on-road HAP sources differ across and within each major racial/ethnic group (Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites), based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (2011) and American Community Survey (2009–2013). Statistical analyses are based on generalized estimating equations which account for clustering of analytic units. Results indicated that Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks are exposed to significantly higher cancer risk than non-Hispanic Whites. When each racial/ethnic group was disaggregated based on contextually relevant characteristics, individuals who are in poverty, foreign-born, renters, and have limited English proficiency are found to be disproportionately located in areas exposed to significantly higher cancer risk, regardless of their major racial/ethnic designation. Our findings underscore the need to conduct intra-categorical EJ analysis for uncovering inequalities that get concealed when broadly defined racial/ethnic categories are used. MDPI 2019-08-18 2019-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6720268/ /pubmed/31426575 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162968 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Loustaunau, Michel G.
Chakraborty, Jayajit
Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice
title Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice
title_full Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice
title_fullStr Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice
title_full_unstemmed Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice
title_short Vehicular Air Pollution in Houston, Texas: An Intra-Categorical Analysis of Environmental Injustice
title_sort vehicular air pollution in houston, texas: an intra-categorical analysis of environmental injustice
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6720268/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31426575
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162968
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