Elevated Cancer Risk from Carcinogens in Long Beach, California Area
September 16th, 2008

An online air quality map shows residents in and around San Pedro Bay breathe some of the dirtiest air in America.

Between 2003 and 2007, Southern California air quality regulators gathered a total of 18,000 air samples and analyzed them for 33 of the most harmful airborne carcinogens.

The results showed those facing the greatest cancer risks live primarily in neighborhoods along busy freeways, rail yards, near seaports and in areas dominated by factories and oil refineries.

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Most of Long Beach, Wilmington, San Pedro and Seal Beach, and portions of Lakewood, Bellflower and Compton, are exposed to higher-than-average cancer risks from toxic air pollution.

The risks diminish greatly outside the general vicinity of the port complex and transportation corridors leading to downtown Los Angeles.

In Huntington Beach, for example, the cancer risk drops to roughly 1/6 the level of downtown Long Beach, and the same is true in Palos Verdes.

Other areas suffering from elevated risks include East Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino.

The report and map were released in January by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, with the map posted online in early September.

Information from PressTelegram.com / Kristopher Hanson