Congressman José E. Serrano

Representing the Sixteenth District of New York

PRESS RELEASE

Serrano Releases New Study Data Tying South Bronx Childhood Asthma to Highways and Dirty Air

Washington, DC – October 16, 2006 – Congressman José E. Serrano, who participated in the release of final results of an NYU study on childhood asthma and pollution in the South Bronx today,  called the findings “distressing” and “a call to further action.”

“Today we learned of the final results of the multi-year NYU study on the connection between childhood asthma and pollution in the South Bronx,” Serrano said. “These results gave us proof positive of what we already know; our children need to be protected from polluted air. We also now know that the opposite of that is happening in the South Bronx, where our children are being exposed to more polluted air from various factors. This study, for instance, points specifically to transportation and traffic pollution as a major cause of high asthma rates.”

The study found that about one in five of all pre-k through eighth graders in the South Bronx attend schools within 500 feet of major highways, where air pollution concentrations exceed normal levels. South Bronx children are twice as likely to attend a school near a highway as other children in the City.

The part of the study which monitored children in four South Bronx schools definitively demonstrated for the first time that diesel-related soot particles are associated with the increased asthma problems among these inner-city children. Indeed, this study found that, on school days experiencing elevated traffic pollution, the children experienced both diminished lung function and a roughly doubling of asthma-related wheeze symptoms.

“Essentially this study is a call to further action,” Serrano added. “We cannot sit idly by and let our children suffer because of past land use and transportation planning decisions, which are now causing so much harm in the South Bronx. The time is now for all interested parties – parents, elected officials, businesspeople, transportation experts, and public health experts – to sit down and come up with a comprehensive plan to combat the scourge of airborne pollution and childhood asthma.

“I am proud to have been a supporter of this study and will continue to fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx. Our children will not be written off—they are our future and their health is too precious. Today marks a turning point: the hard scientific proof is there—now we must take action.”

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Congressman José E. Serrano has represented the Bronx in the House of Representatives since 1990.