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| Vol. 22, No. 2 |
| February 1, 2000 |
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Project Measures Air Pollution in Ship Channel Homes by Scott Merville The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center An innovative research project, funded by the Mickey Leland National Urban Toxics Research Center, is taking sophisticated air pollution monitoring into homes near large industrial plants to measure air quality. Researchers are seeking volunteers among Houston Ship Channel area residents under a project led by Dr. Maria Morandi of The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center School of Public Health. For the next two years the study will seek to determine the number and types of pollutants breathed by residents who live near large industrial facilities. These residential results, Dr. Morandi says, will be compared with readings at the area's various outdoor pollution monitors operated by city and state agencies. "We hope to capture the relationship between what these outdoor monitors are finding and what people are actually breathing," she says. Dr. Morandi suspects that ground-level pollution may differ in makeup and intensity from that measured by the outdoor monitors. If that's the case, existing monitors might not be providing a true picture of potential health risks. The project also will measure three classes of specific pollutants: volatile organic compounds, such as benzene, which in many cases are known carcinogens; fine particulate matter, which is suspected of causing respiratory and cardiac damage; and aldehydes, such as formaldehyde. Dr. Morandi and graduate student Sylvia Maberti are looking for 65 residents of 10 communities to participate: Channelview, Baytown, Bayport, Shore Acres, Texas City, North Shore, Galena Park, Cloverleaf, Woodland Acres and Manchester. About 35 residents also will be recruited from areas away from major pollution sources. Potential participants must spend most of their time in or near their homes and have a non-smoking household. Air pollution monitors will be placed inside and outside their homes, and some residents will be asked to wear a personal monitor for 48 hours. Participants will be paid a small fee and will be provided with the results showing air quality in their homes.
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