Chemical products like household cleaners, pesticides, paints and perfumes that contain compounds refined from petroleum now rival motor vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution, according to a surprising NOAA-led study.
Chemical products like household cleaners, pesticides, paints and perfumes that contain compounds refined from petroleum now rival motor vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution, according to a surprising NOAA-led study.
Far more fuel is consumed each year than petroleum-based compounds in chemical products—about 15 times more by weight, according to the new assessment, which is based on data collected in 2012. Even so, lotions, paints and other products contribute about as much to air pollution as the transportation sector does, said lead author Brian McDonald, a CIRES scientist working in NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Division.
What’s more, these products produce about twice as many tiny particles that can damage people’s lungs as the transportation sector, researchers found. McDonald and colleagues from NOAA and several other institutions reported their results today in the journal Science.
“As transportation gets cleaner, those other sources become more and more important,” McDonald said. “We’ve reached that transition point already in Los Angeles. The stuff we use in our everyday lives can impact air pollution.”
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Image via NOAA.
