Definitions

• Air pollution is a mixture of solid particles like car emissions, chemicals from factories, dust, pollen and mold spores and gases in the air.
• Particle pollution includes:
  • PM₁₀: inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometers(um) and smaller; and
  • PM_2.5: fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers(um) and smaller.
• You may learn more about air pollution here. 

A clear flammable liquid that is used in many industries. Benzene can be found in:

• Inks for printing
• Manufacturing of organic chemicals
• Rubber
• Lubricants
• Detergents
• Dyes
• Pesticides
• Gasoline additive

Exposure to benzene comes from many different sources, including but not limited to:

• Pumping gas
• Work-related exposures
• Automobile exhaust
• Tobacco smoke
• Consuming contaminated food or drink.
• Air pollution from industrial sources

Benzene is classified as a cancer-causing agent by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). For more information on benzene, please see the IARC monograph or the CDC website.

• Toxin that can cause various illnesses, including leukemia.
• Found naturally in volcanoes and forest fires.
• Commonly found in cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and industrial emissions.

The buildup over time of materials, often toxic in body tissues of living organisms.

Increased concentration of a substance, often toxic, in an organism as a result of eating other organisms that have also ingested the substance. The higher up a food chain, the higher the concentrations tend to be. 

Brownfields are land that is either underused or abandoned as a result of pollution. The Brownfield Cleanup Program provides tax incentives and removes certain barriers to encourage redeveloping these areas of land so that they may be used again. 

A substance that has been shown to cause cancer.

The first federal law designed to control air pollution on a nationwide scale. This law introduced minimum national standards for air quality.

Tonawanda Coke Corporation’s violation of this law led to the funding of the Environmental Health Study for Western New York 

A group of individuals involved in a study who are followed over time with the intention of learning how many are affected by exposure to the risk factors of interest to the study.

A grey, hard fuel with a high carbon content and few impurities, made by heating coal or oil in the absence of air. It is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ore smelting, but also as a fuel in stoves and forges when air pollution is a concern.

The substances removed when converting coal to coke are “coke waste”, which is the source of the contamination from Tonawanda Coke.

You may read more about coke here. 

Released during the coke production process.

Hazardous mixture of chemicals that typically includes carcinogens.

Has been linked to various ailments, including but not limited to cancers of the respiratory and digestive systems.

Any substance that can negatively affect air, water or soil. 

The study and analysis of the patterns and frequency that a given disease is found throughout a defined population. 

The path from sources of pollutants via soil, water or food to humans, animals and ecosystems. 

Also known as toxic air pollutants or air toxins.

Pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental effects.

The EPA is working with state, local, and tribal governments to reduce air emissions to the environment. 

Dense metals that can cause significant damage to an individual’s health if consumed at above normal levels, including but not limited to damage to the brain, lungs, and digestive organs.

The number of new cases of a disease divided by the number of persons at risk for the disease during a selected timeframe. This calculation shows the likelihood of individuals within a population getting a particular disease. 

Chemicals that do not contain carbon.

Metals are inorganic.

Created on July 1, 1970 to combine all state programs designed to protect and enhance the environment into a single agency.

Region 9: (Western New York) Allegany, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Niagara and Wyoming counties.

Headquarters: 270 Michigan Ave., Buffalo NY 14203-2915 region9@dec.ny.gov

Sets state guidelines for acceptable levels of contaminants.

Chemicals that contain carbon.

Very small liquid or solid particles that can be found at higher-than-normal rates in emissions.

A mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.

PM₁₀ - <10 μm diameter - Dust, Pollen Mold.

PM_2.5 - <2.5 μm diameter - Auto exhaust, other combustion, droplet reactions.

Health Impact of PM_2.5

• Can enter into the lungs.
• Increased respiratory and cardiovascular illness.
• Eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and shortness of breath. 

A substance that is harmful to water, air, land, and the health of an organism.

Group of chemicals formed by incomplete combustion (burning) processes.

Released into the air through coke oven emissions, fossil fuels, car exhaust, and forest fires.

There are over 200 different PAHs and seven of them have been identified to cause cancer by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

16 known carcinogens in this class of chemicals. 

The total number of cases of a disease existing in a population divided by the total population. 

Authorizes the EPA to regulate how both hazardous and non-hazardous waste is treated, stored, and disposed of.

Signed into law in 1976.

Individuals or specimens selected from the cohort for analysis. 

Areas identified as being polluted with hazardous material and in need of a long-term clean-up.

Love Canal, Valley of the Drums, Tonawanda Coke site.

A mandatory program that tracks how much of a given chemical is released into the air, water, or land by large facilities in various fields (manufacturing, waste treatment, mining, etc.) in the U.S.

Tracks the release of more than 750 different toxic chemicals, but does not include all toxic chemicals.

The information is provided directly by the facilities and is monitored by the EPA. 

A federal agency whose mission is to protect human health and the environment.

Sets federal guidelines for acceptable minimum levels of contaminants.