Vohra Karn, Marais Eloise A, Achakulwisut Ploy, Anenberg Susan, Harkins Colin
Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK.
Stockholm Environment Institute, Seattle, WA, USA.
Sci Adv. 2025 Aug 22;11(34):eadu2241. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adu2241.
The United States has one of the world's largest oil and gas (O&G) industries, yet the health impacts and inequities from pollutants produced along the O&G lifecycle remain poorly characterized. Here, we model the contribution of major lifecycle stages (upstream, midstream, downstream, and end-use) to air pollution and estimate the associated chronic health outcomes and racial-ethnic disparities across the contiguous US in 2017. We estimate lifecycle annual burdens of 91,000 premature deaths attributable to fine particles (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and ozone, 10,350 PM-attributable preterm births, 216,000 incidences of NO-attributable childhood-onset asthma, and 1610 lifetime cancers attributable to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Racial-ethnic minorities experience the greatest disparities in exposure and health burdens across almost all lifecycle stages. The greatest absolute disparities occur for Black and Asian populations from PM and ozone, and the Asian population from NO and HAPs. Relative inequities are most extreme from downstream activities, especially in Louisiana and Texas.
美国拥有全球最大的石油和天然气（O&G）产业之一，然而，石油和天然气生命周期中产生的污染物对健康的影响以及由此导致的不公平现象仍未得到充分描述。在此，我们模拟了主要生命周期阶段（上游、中游、下游和最终使用）对空气污染的贡献，并估计了2017年美国本土因空气污染导致的慢性健康后果以及种族和民族差异。我们估计，由于细颗粒物（PM）、二氧化氮（NO）和臭氧导致的生命周期年过早死亡负担为91,000例，因PM导致的早产负担为10,350例，因NO导致的儿童期哮喘发病率为216,000例，因有害空气污染物（HAPs）导致的终身癌症病例为1610例。在几乎所有生命周期阶段，少数族裔在接触污染物和健康负担方面存在最大差异。因PM和臭氧导致的黑人和亚洲人群、因NO和HAPs导致的亚洲人群的绝对差异最大。相对不公平现象在下游活动中最为极端，尤其是在路易斯安那州和得克萨斯州。
