Op-Ed: Cruise Ships Spew Lung and Heart Disease

By Ernest Salomon

Each year, the Santa Barbara Council allows more and more cruise ships to anchor here and they are poisoning all of us, especially our children and poorer folks living in lower areas of our city. 

PM 2.5 is the measurement of dangerous air particular matter in our air. At 1:49 PM today it is 11.8 which is over twice the limit given by the World Health Organization.  On cruise ship days last week, it got as high as 65.0 and started dropping as soon as the second cruise ship left! PM 2 @ 65 is 13 times the WHO limit!

The council is more interested in the money the city receives from ship visits than it is about public health.   These diesel particle matters stick to lungs and also wind up in the bloodstream. They have over 40 carcinogens in them and cause cancer.  They are also partly responsible for the huge increase in asthma, especially children.  Our council members are either misinformed or don’t care!

The only council member who voted against cruise ship visits was Councilwoman Snedden. She get’s it!

Check out our daily air quality, especially before, during and following two cruise ships anchoring here two days next week.

https://www.iqair.com/us/usa/california/santa-barbara

The difference is astounding and deadly!!


Op-Ed’s are written by community members and local organizations, not edhat. The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of edhat.
Do you have an opinion on something local? Share it with us at info@edhat.com.

Avatar

Written by Anonymous

What do you think?

Comments

1 Comments deleted by Administrator

Leave a Review or Comment

17 Comments

  1. There was a news story yesterday in Los Angeles about how the backlog of ships during the pandemic has greatly increased air pollution in the last couple of years as well, and we could certainly be getting some of that up our way too. Many of these ships go through our channel on their way out to sea as well.

  2. https://www.toxicgoods.com/laundry-dryer-vents-toxicity-in-neighborhoods/
    This is a danger to all and it goes on everyday filling our air and our homes.
    > A 2013 study of fragranced laundry products showed that the use of dryer sheets increased D-limonene emissions from the dryer vent. D-limonene is a volatile organic compound (VOC) commonly found in fragrances and can be a precursor to formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen.
    –> CARB’s consumer product regulation does regulate the VOC content in the dryer sheets and specifies a limit of 0.05g VOC per use. In a large complex where there are many children this is harming.

Plaza del Mar Band Shell Project Secures Funding for Restoration

Loma Alta Closes Starting October 24