Toxic air in New York subways hurts black and brown people the most

A brand new study finds that toxic air in New York City’s subway system disproportionately harms Black and Latino people.

Scientists from New York University detailed their findings on August 7, Reported by Gothamist. They found that longer commutes and more transfers on trains contribute to the best suffering of black and Latino passengers. Black passengers remain the hardest hit, experiencing 35% more air pollution, while Latinos face 23% more air pollution in comparison with white and Asian passengers.

Trains contain airborne particles, leaving passengers with no alternative but to inhale fumes as they travel. Studies have shown that air quality in the transit system is 15 times higher than the World Health Organization allows.

One of the researchers, Masoud Ghandehari, explained how underground trains absorb toxic pollutants, exposing passengers of color to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

“When a train comes, all the metal on the floor of the tunnel gets knocked over,” Ghandehari said. “Every time the doors open, the concentration in the train increases because the outside environment, the platforms, is more concentrated.”

What about Ghadehari’s solution? vacuuming of the subway should do the trick.

“We have to clean up all this dust. It all settled at the bottom of the tunnel. So when the train comes (to the station), the concentration of dust in the air increases dramatically. Everything underneath gets mixed up.”

But not everyone in the city is celebrating Ghadehari, a professor of civil and urban engineering, and his research.

“This rehashed ‘study’ based on years-old ‘data’ has long since been debunked,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Communications Officer Tim Minton said in an announcement. “Any serious person knows that public transit is the antidote to climate change, the sole reason New York City is the greenest city around, and a lifeline for people in all communities who need an affordable, safe way to get to jobs, schools, and opportunities of all kinds.”