Six Cities Air Pollution Project: How the effects of air pollution impact the environmental and public health of various cities across the globe. Undergraduate Researcher: Margaret Murphy Advisor/Contacts: Kim Fortun, Department of Science and Technology Studies Abstract The aim of this project is to advance understanding of different ways scientific capacity is developed and used in governance, examining how environmental health research and governance has developed in six cities (three in the United States and three in Asia). This undergraduate research project is situated within the recently NSF-funded project “Environmental Health Governance in Six Cities: How Scientific Cultures, Practices and Infrastructure Shape Governance Styles.” The specifics of this particular project will focus on the public health forum in Bengaluru, India. The main focus of public health will be researched due to its strong correlation with existing project areas focusing on transportation, education, and environmental studies based in the city. Further researching into the area of public health specifically can have a strong influence in understanding the overall impact of air pollution produced by the Bangalore region. Said to have some of the highest pollution rates in India, and termed as the Silicon Valley of India, the city is growing steadfastly into an age of further pollution. To research into such an area may help to highlight the harmful effects being brought down upon one of India largest cities and help to potentially bring awareness to its people the importance of environmental protection and regulations. Social Significance
Environmental health regulation has developed in parallel with overall environmental protection policy since the early 1900s. While these early efforts included statues governing the quality of food, drinking water, and sewage systems, most notably left out were concerns of air quality (EPA 1988). It wasn’t until the 1950s that an awareness surrounding the dangers of industrial pollution was fostered; triggering a realization that regulation must attend to more than the acute, communicable diseases such as typhoid, but also to the chronic, long-term disease burdens caused by the very visible particulate air pollution of the industrial age. In comparison to the immediate and quite tangible health outcomes of polluted drinking water, efforts to understand the health effects of air pollution have been riddled with difficulty on the scientific, industrial, and political fronts. Spurred by the deadly smog episodes of the 1940s in Pennsylvania and London, Congress passed the Air Pollution Act in 1955, providing the US Public Health Service $5 million annually to study the effects of pollution on human health (Klinger 2014).
The 1970s brought about stronger federal air control regulations in acknowledgement that state and local standards were insufficient in dealing with a matter that crosses political borders; further indication of the importance of studying cities as both unique, insular microcosms of pollution, as well as contributors to overall air pollution. The regulations established National Ambient Air Quality Standards, New Source Performance Standards, establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and limited emissions from motor vehicles. Expectedly, this strengthening of standards did not come without backlash from industry, with numerous cases of litigation ensuing over the next decades, further calling for the establishment of irrefutable scientific evidence to support the regulatory measures (Melnick 1983).
The research takes as its backdrop the extended controversy about the Harvard Six Cities Study. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the Six Cities Study examined the effects of air pollution on more than 8,000 adults and 14,000 children in six US cities over a 14 year span (Dockery 1993). While one of the most influential public health studies to be conducted, the study has been subject to intense scientific scrutiny since its publication in 1993. Following a 1979 epidemiological study that concluded that, “there was no evidence for negative health effects from particulate pollution at levels seen in the United States” the Six Cities study reached a radically different conclusion. In response to the widespread controversy, the Six Cities researchers, along with the authors of a similarly controversial American Cancer Society study linking emergency room visits to air pollution, released their data to the Health Effects Institute, a corporation jointly funded by the EPA and the automobile industry in attempts to validate their results to the public. The Health Effects Institute’s objective validation of the study’s methodology proved a significant juncture in the scientific and political acceptance of such studies (Dockery, 2009). The Clean Air Act, established in 1963, mandates that the standards be reviewed every five years to reflect the latest scientific knowledge, forcing the EPA to review the latest standards in light of the recent epidemiological evidence (McClellan 1997).
The project at hand will take this its own 6 city research project and extend its reach to various corners of the globe. Hoping to see a correlation between air pollution impact on health care, the project at hand will dissect various aspects across all of its investigatory major cities in the areas including transportation, education, and environmental impact.
The goal of this particular project area will focus on the public health of citizens in the major city of Bengaluru.
Research Aims and Questions:
The first aim of the sector of my project is to collect and analyze empirical and historical data on public health in the governmental and nongovernmental subsector of India. The main questions and sub questions that twill help guide this research entail:
a. What kind of health effects are historically known to be brought on by air pollution to citizens recognized in Bengaluru and across the globe.
b. What governmental and non-governmental organizations are on the ground helping these in the Bengaluru region
c. What groups have been in the region to help India that have either pulled out their efforts or relocated over the years.
d. To what extent, if any, is there a regions where both there exists a high density of air pollutant output alongside increased risk of chronic illness.
e. Is there any organization currently working towards eradicating certain illness that have a correlation to air pollutant
f. What illness still exist in India, which may have already been eradicated in other parts of the world.
Project Design and Feasibility
For the majority of the semester I will follow under the direction and guidance of team leaders, Dr. Kim Fortune, Dr. Mike Fortune, and Alli Morgan. I will follow weekly set project goals. More specifically I will focus the majority of my research on the area of public health in India. Having research aid on site in the city of Bengaluru, I will work most specifically in the southern district local of India. I will work for my team to provide them information concerning efforts made in the city to protect its citizens from air pollution and potentially the lack thereof of aide. Both NGO and Public organizations will be investigated in my research. The focus each week will focus on either abroad or more specific look into the city’s health organizations, history of pollution, and the health trends and illness patterns across various societal statuses. Background
Studying biomedical engineering for the past three years I have had a lot of exposure to laboratory research through independent research in the BME department and through class. I have a strong grasp of what is expected of a student in a laboratory research setting. After spending much time in the lab, I felt it would be beneficial for me as an academic to work in an environment outside of my comfort zone. Being a pre medical student has made my interest in studying public health at an all-time high for quite some time. Thus Six Cities helped marry together my interest in both public health and to expand my research capabilities more into of an independent analytical society study. I look forward to growing in my ability to write, research independently, and understand how to follow societal trends over decades of public health history. Presentation and Evaluation
I will provide weekly updates to my project findings that will contribute to the Environmental Health Governance in Six Cities: How Scientific Cultures, Practices and Infrastructure Shape Governance Styles. Meetings will be held on a weekly basis where new assignments will be presented. During the week I will research independently and reach out to the team either during our mid-week catch up or on my own time during office hours held on Wednesdays. This work will be stored and built upon weekly to create my final presentation, which will culminate into a final presentation at the end of the semester. Dissemination of Knowledge
I will present my research during various meetings across the semester. These findings will culminate into a master research project, which I will showcase during the STS Undergraduate Research Symposium in December 2015.
Undergraduate Researcher: Margaret Murphy
Advisor/Contacts: Kim Fortun, Department of Science and Technology Studies
Abstract
The aim of this project is to advance understanding of different ways scientific capacity is developed and used in governance, examining how environmental health research and governance has developed in six cities (three in the United States and three in Asia). This undergraduate research project is situated within the recently NSF-funded project “Environmental Health Governance in Six Cities: How Scientific Cultures, Practices and Infrastructure Shape Governance Styles.” The specifics of this particular project will focus on the public health forum in Bengaluru, India. The main focus of public health will be researched due to its strong correlation with existing project areas focusing on transportation, education, and environmental studies based in the city. Further researching into the area of public health specifically can have a strong influence in understanding the overall impact of air pollution produced by the Bangalore region. Said to have some of the highest pollution rates in India, and termed as the Silicon Valley of India, the city is growing steadfastly into an age of further pollution. To research into such an area may help to highlight the harmful effects being brought down upon one of India largest cities and help to potentially bring awareness to its people the importance of environmental protection and regulations.
Social Significance
Environmental health regulation has developed in parallel with overall environmental protection policy since the early 1900s. While these early efforts included statues governing the quality of food, drinking water, and sewage systems, most notably left out were concerns of air quality (EPA 1988). It wasn’t until the 1950s that an awareness surrounding the dangers of industrial pollution was fostered; triggering a realization that regulation must attend to more than the acute, communicable diseases such as typhoid, but also to the chronic, long-term disease burdens caused by the very visible particulate air pollution of the industrial age. In comparison to the immediate and quite tangible health outcomes of polluted drinking water, efforts to understand the health effects of air pollution have been riddled with difficulty on the scientific, industrial, and political fronts. Spurred by the deadly smog episodes of the 1940s in Pennsylvania and London, Congress passed the Air Pollution Act in 1955, providing the US Public Health Service $5 million annually to study the effects of pollution on human health (Klinger 2014).
The 1970s brought about stronger federal air control regulations in acknowledgement that state and local standards were insufficient in dealing with a matter that crosses political borders; further indication of the importance of studying cities as both unique, insular microcosms of pollution, as well as contributors to overall air pollution. The regulations established National Ambient Air Quality Standards, New Source Performance Standards, establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and limited emissions from motor vehicles. Expectedly, this strengthening of standards did not come without backlash from industry, with numerous cases of litigation ensuing over the next decades, further calling for the establishment of irrefutable scientific evidence to support the regulatory measures (Melnick 1983).
The research takes as its backdrop the extended controversy about the Harvard Six Cities Study. Beginning in the mid-1970s, the Six Cities Study examined the effects of air pollution on more than 8,000 adults and 14,000 children in six US cities over a 14 year span (Dockery 1993). While one of the most influential public health studies to be conducted, the study has been subject to intense scientific scrutiny since its publication in 1993. Following a 1979 epidemiological study that concluded that, “there was no evidence for negative health effects from particulate pollution at levels seen in the United States” the Six Cities study reached a radically different conclusion. In response to the widespread controversy, the Six Cities researchers, along with the authors of a similarly controversial American Cancer Society study linking emergency room visits to air pollution, released their data to the Health Effects Institute, a corporation jointly funded by the EPA and the automobile industry in attempts to validate their results to the public. The Health Effects Institute’s objective validation of the study’s methodology proved a significant juncture in the scientific and political acceptance of such studies (Dockery, 2009). The Clean Air Act, established in 1963, mandates that the standards be reviewed every five years to reflect the latest scientific knowledge, forcing the EPA to review the latest standards in light of the recent epidemiological evidence (McClellan 1997).
The project at hand will take this its own 6 city research project and extend its reach to various corners of the globe. Hoping to see a correlation between air pollution impact on health care, the project at hand will dissect various aspects across all of its investigatory major cities in the areas including transportation, education, and environmental impact.
The goal of this particular project area will focus on the public health of citizens in the major city of Bengaluru.
Research Aims and Questions:
The first aim of the sector of my project is to collect and analyze empirical and historical data on public health in the governmental and nongovernmental subsector of India. The main questions and sub questions that twill help guide this research entail:
Project Design and Feasibility
For the majority of the semester I will follow under the direction and guidance of team leaders, Dr. Kim Fortune, Dr. Mike Fortune, and Alli Morgan. I will follow weekly set project goals. More specifically I will focus the majority of my research on the area of public health in India. Having research aid on site in the city of Bengaluru, I will work most specifically in the southern district local of India. I will work for my team to provide them information concerning efforts made in the city to protect its citizens from air pollution and potentially the lack thereof of aide. Both NGO and Public organizations will be investigated in my research. The focus each week will focus on either abroad or more specific look into the city’s health organizations, history of pollution, and the health trends and illness patterns across various societal statuses.
Background
Studying biomedical engineering for the past three years I have had a lot of exposure to laboratory research through independent research in the BME department and through class. I have a strong grasp of what is expected of a student in a laboratory research setting. After spending much time in the lab, I felt it would be beneficial for me as an academic to work in an environment outside of my comfort zone. Being a pre medical student has made my interest in studying public health at an all-time high for quite some time. Thus Six Cities helped marry together my interest in both public health and to expand my research capabilities more into of an independent analytical society study. I look forward to growing in my ability to write, research independently, and understand how to follow societal trends over decades of public health history.
Presentation and Evaluation
I will provide weekly updates to my project findings that will contribute to the Environmental Health Governance in Six Cities: How Scientific Cultures, Practices and Infrastructure Shape Governance Styles. Meetings will be held on a weekly basis where new assignments will be presented. During the week I will research independently and reach out to the team either during our mid-week catch up or on my own time during office hours held on Wednesdays. This work will be stored and built upon weekly to create my final presentation, which will culminate into a final presentation at the end of the semester.
Dissemination of Knowledge
I will present my research during various meetings across the semester. These findings will culminate into a master research project, which I will showcase during the STS Undergraduate Research Symposium in December 2015.