Breathing toxins

Anybody breathing in the Los Angeles Basin during last weekend's wildfires knows the air was bad. But it's worse than you think.

Researchers analyzing air samples taken during the October 2007 wildfires in Southern California found some nasty stuff in the smoke that blanketed the region.

It was full of tiny particles — 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair — that can penetrate into the lower lung and migrate into the bloodstream. Their complex chemical composition makes them slightly more toxic than pollutants in a freeway corridor — and they are spread over a much wider area.

The smoke particulates are adept at producing free radicals that can damage cells and lead to disease. Roughly half the matter sampled was organic carbon, which includes known carcinogens. Levels of metals such as copper emitted from burning buildings were also higher.

Staying behind closed windows in an old house without central air conditioning air won't help much, said Constantinos Sioutas, one of the authors of the study, which will be published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Better to head to an enclosed mall or a building with recirculated air. "More aggressive measures to avoid smoke seem to deserve study, including distribution of masks and evacuation to air-conditioned environments," said Sioutas, the Fred Champion professor of civil and environmental engineering at USC.            

— Bettina Boxall

Photo: The Los Angeles skyline is obscured by smoke from wildfires this month. Credit: David McNew / Getty Images

Comments

[Brenda Garcia]

I was one of the evacuees during both of the sylmar fires. I did notice that the air quality after the fires was pretty bad, but after reading this article, I am way more concerned about my health. I always knew that breathing polluted air was bad, but I did not know that it was so serious. It is amazing how many tiny particles were found in our polluted air. We don't even know we are breathing these things, and that worries me. I love living in California, but I just do not know what to do about all of this. I do not think there is anything I can do! I just hope and pray that in the long run, my health is not seriously affected by this, and if it does become affected by the polluted air, I sure do hope there is some kind of treatment for it that can save my life, as well as the lives of others.

[Julia Robinson Shimizu BREATHE LA]

Air quality is a fundamental health issue. Human suffering related to air pollution is reflected in rising rates of asthma, lung disease and cancer. Study co-author Dr. Constantinos Sioutas shared his expertise on the dangers of small particulate matter at BREATHE LA 2007 Environmental Conference and we applaud his important work. Awareness of the danger is only the beginning. BREATHE LA encourages you to take the next step, making a personal commitment to lifestyle changes that can reduce air pollution. Although wildfires and other natural disasters are perhaps beyond our personal control, there are many other things we can do, individually and as a community to reduce air pollution. They can be as simple as walking or carpooling to a mall with recirculated air for safe haven in air quality emergencies. For more information and ideas, visit www.breathela.org

[JOHN]

my wife and i had a huge argument about taking the kids out that day. she insisted on taking them to TREE PEOPLE (i know, "the irony") and i was ..."let them burn some brain cells watching tv and hanging at the house.

she won... took them to three people ... and i've been seething ever since.

i used to fight fire in the service.. and its very clear that you are breathing toxic god knows what every time heat is introduced to a synthetic of any kind. just like cigarettes ... every time you draw on a cig you create a 500 degrees heater to chemically treated tobacco. and then you draw it deep into your lungs.

WAKE UP MOTHERS.... dont let your kids play with fire by breathing the smoke from urban fires just becuase you need to "get the kids out of the house"