As EPA weakens air pollution regulations, Black women stand to face the greatest health risks

The EPA has taken steps to weaken air pollution regulations over the last year, overturning dozens of rules aimed at reducing pollution. This is devastating for environmental justice organizers like Rhonda Anderson in Detroit, who have worked hard to get these issues recognized. Anderson says Black women in her community are dying from asthma at shameful rates, and the pollution may be linked to higher breast cancer rates as well. Experts say the EPA's moves favor industry while sacrificing public health, and it is Black women and their families who will face the consequences the most. Black women already have the highest asthma death rates, four times higher than white men, due to factors like living in medical deserts and taking on caregiving responsibilities. By no longer calculating the health costs of pollution, the EPA is shifting the burden onto vulnerable communities. Anderson believes the EPA is putting polluters' profits ahead of people's health. Society's most vulnerable, like Black women, will face the consequences of the Clean Air Act rollbacks.