We can confidently say, given our current careers and personal causes, that toxic pollution in the air and then inhaled into our human lungs will worsen our health and shorten our lives.

You might feel this is common sense. For us, it is a part of our scientific research and life’s work focus.

The science is clear and deeply compelling. While corporations focus on the importance of the products they make, the services they provide, or the importance of the jobs they support, there is almost no discussion of the very real health implications of their industrial pollution and the tradeoffs our state is making when we do not regulate emissions. We are ignoring the very real health implications for our families and neighbors.

Years of epidemiologic research have calculated the amount of occurring hospitalizations, the accumulated poor health outcomes and years of life lost due to the exposure of communities to air pollution. Not to mention the increased risk of numerous cancers for chronically breathing in known toxins. At a molecular level, we know significant inflammation occurs upon exposure to these tiny impurities, not only in the lung where they enter, but also throughout the body. The immune system itself shifts how it responds to insults based on this repetitive inflammation cycle due to poor air quality. Repetitive exposures can program the immune system, potentially leading to chronic inflammatory disease.

All communities are susceptible to these health effects, but especially the vulnerable, including our youngest, oldest, sickest, neighbors of color, and poorest. Those with respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD, are especially vulnerable to the effects of the air pollution, which can be most severe in neighborhoods close to industrial emissions.

These air toxins impact every corner of our state, from Pueblo to Wheat Ridge and beyond. In Pueblo, Harsco Metals emits chromium compounds that are known cancer toxins when inhaled, and nickel compounds, which are linked to bronchitis and reduced lung function. In Wheat Ridge, the Terumo BCT Sterilization Services plant emits ethylene oxide, a known cancer toxin when inhaled. These are only a few of the toxic air pollution examples in the state, and yet emission mitigation practices remain lacking.

Colorado has tried to improve its monitoring of these polluters. But monitoring known toxic air emissions does not end them, and it does not adequately protect community health. We must enact regulations that decrease emissions across communities by focusing on science-based air-quality targets that put community health first. These toxins are outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency, but are not regulated in Colorado.

Currently, air pollution limits are set one facility at a time without regard for the cumulative impacts of “chemical cocktails” on community health, including the impacts of many different air toxin mixtures emitted from multiple sources in a given community. Shockingly, air toxin limits in facility permits are generally set without considering the health impacts to neighboring communities. This must be changed to protect our citizens’ health, and with the current proposed legislation, it can be.

Colorado lawmakers are considering legislation, HB22-1244, that would begin to rein in these polluters by aligning monitoring with a more thorough permitting process that considers all chemicals being emitted and their cumulative impact on surrounding communities. These community-focused standards will do what regulation of pollution should do, put community health first. It’s just good science.

Dr. Laura Harmacek is an epigenetic molecular biologist and Scientific Coordinator of the EVER program. Dr. Brian P. O’Connor is an immunologist and co-Director of the EVER program, part of National Jewish Health. They are both advocates working with Healthy Air and Wa