Over the course of one to two years, 100 children in Mason County who have asthma will record their daily symptoms in journals. This information will be compared to air pollution levels in Mason County.
“We’re hoping to see if there is a correlation between the levels of the ultra fine particulate and any symptoms of asthma,” Michael McCawley, is an associate research professor in WVU’s Department of Community Medicine.
McCawley says ultra fine particulate pollution could explain why there are more pediatric than adult asthma cases. He says these tiny pieces of matter more easily get into the bodies of more vulnerable populations, like children with still developing bodies.
Researchers are studying the effects of C8 on people living near a DuPont plant, including those who live south of the plant in Mason County. C8 is a chemical used in products like non stick cookware and wax paper. It’s produced at the DuPont plant.
The survey C8 study participants filled out asked about asthma, and that’s how researchers found the cluster of pediatric asthma cases in Mason County.
“We were getting rates of probably around 1,000 children or more in Mason County with asthma,” McCawley said. “That was cause for some concern, because the adult rate for asthma in Mason County was below seven percent, so we’re looking at double the rate of asthma.”
McCawley says there’s no indication that C8 would cause asthma, and that’s what led him to consider the ultra fine particulates.
McCawley says European researchers have studied ultra fine particles that come from traffic and diesel exhaust, but he’s looking for another source in Mason County.
“In Mason County, however, we don’t have the kind of traffic levels that you see in big cities, like Copenhagen, which is where one of the studies was done. Point Pleasant in fact is the only large town and it doesn’t even come close to being the same size as Copenhagen, nor does it have the same kind of traffic.
“But when we went down and measured the ultra fine levels, the levels were at least as high and in some cases a little bit higher than we’ve seen in urban areas, so we think the ultra fine particulates there may be coming from another source.
"Now, what’s the other source? There’s some speculation involved in this. I don’t want to accuse anybody, but our hypothesis is that it may be sulfates and nitrates that are in the air and these could be coming from power plants,” McCawley said.
McCawley will install ultra fine particulate air monitors outside several schools in Mason County. Students will help McCawley collect air quality readings as part of their science classes.
Eventually, McCawley plans to investigate cluster pediatric asthma cases in other parts of the state.
“In Calhoun and Webster County we found 18 percent pediatric asthma rates in this data set,” McCawley said. “It’s self-reported asthma from the data set, so we need to go in and confirm that those rates are true. If true then it means this is a much wider spread phenomenon than we had originally believed.”
McCawley says if researchers tie asthma symptoms to ultra fine particulate pollution and monitors are available to track ultra fine levels, then people could receive warnings about bad air days and take heed if they have asthma.
Also, McCawley’s research will add new information to state records. He says the state currently only tracks the number of adult asthma cases.