Yale University environmental health professor Michelle Bell will speak about how air pollution affects human health during a lecture and webinar on Friday, April 26 at 10 a.m.
Bell’s presentation, titled “The Impact of Airborne Particulate Matter on Human Health: Current Scientific Evidence and Remaining Challenges,” will highlight recent scientific evidence from epidemiological studies on how particles affect human health, using national datasets related to weather, air pollution and health. This talk will be presented in Auditorium 119 in the UMass Amherst Engineering Lab II. It will simultaneously be offered as a webinar.
Particulate matter is estimated to cause more than 3.7 million deaths a year worldwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that benefits of the Clean Air Act were more than 30 times higher than costs, with a large portion of those benefits from averted mortalities due to decreased levels of particulate matter. Still, more than 74 million people in the U.S. live in areas with higher particulate matter levels than health regulations allow. While there is strong and consistent evidence that particulate matter affects health, many questions remain, such as which types of particles and sources of particles are most harmful; which populations are most susceptible or vulnerable; and how these health impacts will be affected by climate change.
Bell teaches in Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She researches the impact that atmospheric systems, including pollution and weather, have on human health. Bell intends for her research to be relevant to public policymakers and hopes that her work can contribute to constructive decision-making to better protect human health. She has won several awards, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Science’s Outstanding New Environmental Scientist award in 2006.
This event is co-sponsored by the Northeastern Climate Science Consortium; the Environmental Working Group; and the Center for Public Policy and Administration.