An Air of Alarm Over Diesel Exhaust

Two children a day on average are brought to Buena Park’s tiny Eve Medical Center suffering from asthma, their throats closing up as they struggle to breathe. Pinpointing the cause is difficult, but the ceaseless rumble of diesel trucks out front provides a potential clue.

The clinic, whose clients are primarily immigrant Latinos, is directly across the street from an Albertson’s grocery distribution warehouse. Up to 1,200 trucks a day make deliveries or pick-ups to the warehouse. The neighborhood is wedged between the Artesia and Santa Ana freeways, which have brought a constant stream of the big rigs clattering to the warehouse since it opened in 1962.

Children “are more susceptible, of course,” said Dr. Sean Zahed,director of the clinic.

On Monday, as part of a landmark court settlement, 4,500 residents in the area are supposed to be sent warnings for the first time about an increased risk of cancer and other health hazards linked to soot pouring out of those trucks. Albertson’s officials say there may be a delay because they had not received a mailing list from the state by Friday, but the warnings will go out.

The advisory, in English and Spanish, will go to 25,000 residents near the Buena Park distribution center--scheduled to close later this year because it is too small--and near four others across California. The notices are part of a settlement between three of the state’s largest grocery chains, the California attorney general’s office and the environmental organization Natural Resources Defense Council. The other grocery chains are Ralphs, Safeway/Vons and Albertson’s/Lucky stores.

“If they get this warning, that means they are being exposed to a significant risk from this one source,” said Gail Ruderman Feuer, a senior attorney with the NRDC’s Los Angeles office. She said the working class neighborhood adjoining the Buena Park facility was typical of all the neighborhoods.

“Just about every distribution center named in our lawsuit involved a relatively lower income community of color . . . that’s unfortunately the reality of the times.”

The health realities are harsh as well. Diesel exhaust contains more than 40 chemicals that have been listed by the state as toxic air contaminants.

“It’s a potent mix,” said Shannon Dunn, vice president of communication and advocacy for Orange County chapter of the American Lung Assn.

Exposure to these chemicals, along with the fine particle soot in diesel exhaust, has been linked to higher rates of cancer, respiratory illness, reproductive problems, pneumonia, heart disease and death.

In Southern California, diesel emissions account for 70% of the cancer risk, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. A lifetime exposure to such pollution may cause more than 14,000 premature deaths in this state, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Respiratory effects--particularly asthma in children--are a key concern, because children breathe in more air for their body weight than adults and their lungs are not fully developed. Children also tend to spend more time outdoors, Dunn said.

Buena Park Junior High School is a half-mile from the warehouse. Every school day, many of the 1,000 7th- and 8th-graders spend time outside during lunch and breaks.

“Its a safety concern,” said one teacher, who declined to be identified. She said trucks are a common sight.

“I’ve heard that because of the increase of cars and exhaust in diesel [there are more cases of] asthma in students,” she said.

In Orange County, high ozone levels during smoggy days increase school absenteeism and pediatric emergency room visits attributed to asthma by 10%, according to the American Lung Assn.

Diesel exhaust compounds the problem, said John Peters,a USC epidemiologist and co-director of the Southern California Center for Children’s Environmental Health & Disease Research.

Peters said his organization is planning a long-term study about air pollution-related illness, which health officials consider a significant dilemma. He said the mailed warning was a good idea, because “I doubt the general public has much of understanding of this.”

Many residents of the Buena Park neighborhood say they had no idea they were at risk.

Carmen Murillo has lived within a few hundred yards of the distribution center for 15 years, unaware that the exhaust could pose health risks. But she thinks it could explain respiratory problems she has developed.

About three years ago, “I noticed my throat starts closing up,” she said. “My doctor tells me it’s allergies. The stuff in the air--maybe that’s a part of it.”

She questions why she was not warned earlier, as does neighbor Carrie Molina, who has lived in the area for 17 years.

Molina said she’s noticed a lot of dust, which is one of the few signs that diesel soot is present.

“We’ve never heard anything,” she said, as she glanced nervously at her sleeping 10-month-old daughter Mikayla. “The health risks and any pollution in the area--I would like to know about it.”

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Cancer Hazard

After a landmark legal settlement, 4,500 Buena Park residents will receive warnings that diesel exhaust from truck traffic to and from an Albertson’s grocery warehouse increases their cancer risks. A look at the area:

1,000-1,200 trucks a day access center, many from Santa Ana and Artesia freeways.

Source: Coalition for Clean Air, California Attorney General’s Office, Natural Resources Defense Council.

Graphics reporting by SEEMA MEHTA / Los Angeles Times