Birmingham has been rated by the CDC and the American Lung Association as one of the most polluted cities in the United States for the last several years.
A new study published on July 5, 2011, in the journal Molecular Psychiatry is the first to link long term exposure to air pollution to physical changes in the brain that can result in learning problems, memory problems, and depression.
The EPA has fined several Birmingham polluters but the fight to actually implement clean air standards that are thirty years old is still a legal tussle between "pro business" Republicans and "pro environment" Democrats. There is no true end in sight.
The real problem in Birmingham according to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the American Lung Association is soot. The Riley administration allowed polluters to release soot and other pollutants at rates that far exceeded standards set by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
The research exposed mice to polluted air for five hours a day for ten months. The composition of the polluted air was fine particulates like those produced by industrial and automobile pollution.
The mice that were exposed to pollution were tested for learning, memory, anxiety, and depression. In all cases the pollution exposed mice performed at a lower level than mice that were not exposed to pollution.
An examination of the brains of the pollution exposed mice showed changes in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a region of the brain strongly controls memory, learning, and emotion. A low grade inflammation of the hippocampus was traced to cytokines that cause inflammation as a result of pollution.
The pollution exposed mice also demonstrated shorter dendrite length and fewer interneural connections. Both of these defects factor into learning speed and ability as well as memory.
What effect has the high pollution levels in Birmingham had on Birmingham’s children and their ability to learn and memorize? Any supposition is pure conjecture without direct examination but the results of this research would indicate a high probability that some of the learning problems demonstrated by poor achievement in Birmingham schools is a direct result of the high pollution levels in Birmingham.
Laura Fonken is the lead author of the study and a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University. The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site on July 5, 2011.
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