title: Toxic exposure in America: estimating fetal and infant health outcomes from 14 years of TRI reporting.
abstract: We examine the effect of exposure to a set of toxic pollutants that are tracked by the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) from manufacturing facilities on county-level infant and fetal mortality rates in the United States between 1989 and 2002. Unlike previous studies, we control for toxic pollution from both mobile sources and non-TRI reporting facilities. We find significant adverse effects of toxic air pollution concentrations on infant mortality rates. Within toxic air pollutants we find that releases of carcinogens are particularly problematic for infant health outcomes. We estimate that the average county-level decreases in various categories of TRI concentrations saved in excess of 13,800 infant lives from 1989 to 2002. Using the low end of the range for the value of a statistical life that is typically used by the EPA of $1.8M, the savings in lives would be valued at approximately $25B.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, USA.
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Chanont
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Banternghansa
authors.forename: Linda T M
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Bui
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics; D002274:Carcinogens, Environmental / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D004282:Documentation; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D046689:Fetal Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D007229:Infant Welfare; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D026712:Value of Life / Q000191:economics; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D002274:Carcinogens, Environmental; D015386:Hazardous Substances