Air Pollution, Asthma Burden Unevenly Shared Among U.S. Children

Kellen Bolden was only 10 years old when an asthma attack took his life, but his mom still remembers him as a “little man” with big aspirations.

“He often said to himself, ‘Good morning, Mr. Millionaire,’” recalled Rhonda Mitchell. Kellen’s dreams, she said, weren’t confined to the limits of his hometown, Jonesboro, Ga., a predominantly minority, low-income community about 20 miles south of Atlanta.

Much like its bigger neighbor to the north, and a number of other cities across the country, Jonesboro has long faced air pollution problems.

“We know that air quality is unacceptable in many places,” said Christopher Paul, a graduate student in environmental policy at Duke University. “This is just one of a number of assaults on children’s well-being that makes it harder to lead healthy, successful lives.”

Paul is a researcher on a study published last year that describes disparities in air quality around the U.S. By pairing census data with air pollution levels from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s monitoring network, his team found that low-income and minority groups — in particular, poor children of color — tend to be most exposed to air pollution. Read More