U.S. neighborhoods with more people of color suffer worse air pollution: The Guardian

LONDON, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Across the United States, people of color are often the ones forced to live with the nation's worst fine particle air pollution, British newspaper The Guardian has reported.

An analysis, based on a model created by a team of researchers at institutions including the University of Washington, shows that the more people of color who live in a neighborhood, the higher the fine particulate air pollution levels are likely to be, according to the report published Wednesday.

"In our society, people of color are given the least value," professor Robert Bullard from Texas Southern University, who helped to start the environmental justice movement, was quoted as saying.

"The underlying variable that is most predictive is systemic racism," he said.

While the Clean Air Act has prompted steady improvement in air quality around the United States in the last five decades, studies have shown that a wide gap persists in air pollution levels suffered by people of different races, the report said.