An LA Times article from 2014 highlights a university research project into LAX pollution. The researchers found landings and takeoffs create ultrafine particulates that land on homes and school below the flight path.
As Hawthorne airport jet traffic expands neighborhoods, schools and children will be also be subject to more ultrafine particulate pollution. There are 10 schools in the landing and take off zones for Hawthorne Airport.
The findings raise health concerns, researchers say, because the minute particles, which result from the condensation of hot exhaust vapor from cars, diesel trucks and aircraft, have the potential to aggravate heart and lung conditions, including asthma and the development of blocked arteries.
Less than one-thousandth the width of a human hair, they can go deep in the lungs, make their way into the bloodstream and spread to the brain, heart and other critical organs. While emissions of slightly larger exhaust particles are regulated, ultrafines are not.
“This is a very novel and alarming set of results,” said Ralph Delfino, a professor of epidemiology at UC Irvine who studies the health effects of air pollution and reviewed the study. “It’s all very, very surprising.”
Continue reading the LA Times article
