L.A.'S TOXIC FREEWAYS CANCER RISK TWICE AS HIGH ALONG 405 IN VALLEY THAN IN INDUSTRIAL AREAS.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Residents who live next to the congested 405 Freeway through the San Fernando Valley are at least twice as likely to develop cancer from breathing vehicle exhaust than those who live next to highly industrial areas, air quality regulators say.

In fact, freeways are the one of largest sources of cancer-causing contaminants in the Los Angeles Basin.

And the stretch of the 405 Freeway from the 118 Freeway to the Sepulveda Pass is the worst in the Valley - although it ranks well below the ports, LAX and several high-traffic interchanges elsewhere in the region, according to never-before reported data in a cancer-risk assessment the South Coast Air Quality Management District conducted in 1999 and plans to update next year.

The assessment estimates that lifelong residents of the 405 Freeway corridor face a 1,000- to 1,500-in-a-million risk of developing cancer from inhaling the diesel, benzene and formaldehyde found in the exhaust of the half-million cars and trucks that travel the thoroughfare each day.

In comparison, those who live in the most industrial areas next to refineries, chemical plants, landfills and metal platers face about a 500-in-a-million risk of developing cancer.

Under current AQMD regulations, industrial polluters cannot emit pollutants that create a cancer risk greater than 25 in 1 million.

``In popular imagination, the smokestack factory, the industrial plant has always been seen as the most toxic threat,'' said AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood. ``People don't look at freeways as thousands of tiny smokestacks.''

The gases and ultrafine particles from diesel exhaust can cause mutations in cells that can lead to cancer, experts say. Though invisible and often odor free, the toxics in vehicle exhaust also have been linked to respiratory problems, headaches and nausea.

The report is one of several recent studies showing that freeways create wide corridors of air pollution that are especially dangerous for children, the elderly and the ill.

Residents along the 405 Freeway corridor were surprised to learn of the risks, assuming - like most people - that heavily industrial neighborhoods would have the highest pollution levels.

``I think you can expect it to be bad just because of all the cars, but I never thought it was so bad,'' said Luis Contreras, a lab technician who recently moved his family to a tree-lined Van Nuys street fronting the 405.

In 1999, the AQMD completed an extensive study of toxic pollutants in the air throughout the district, which includes Los Angeles County. They monitored 30 toxic contaminants and found that throughout the Los Angeles Basin, cars, trucks, ships and planes make up 90 percent of the cancer risk from air pollution.

Diesel soot alone makes up 70 percent of the risk. Benzene and other toxics from tailpipes make up 20 percent. And contaminants from dry cleaners, metal platers and auto body shops make up the last 10 percent of risk.

The AQMD has a plan to tackle the 200 cancer risk hot spots throughout the four-county district, including 100 neighborhoods thick with toxic pollution from mobile sources.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, along with Los Angeles International Airport, top the toxic list because of the diesel engines in ships and planes and vehicular traffic - but high-traffic interchanges in South Los Angeles, downtown, Anaheim and San Bernardino are next in line.

Local air regulators have reined in toxic air contamination from industrial sources - even phasing out perchloroethylene, the chemical commonly used in dry cleaning - but state and federal agencies have not made similarly strong cuts on diesel, benzene and other toxics found in vehicle exhaust.

The best locals can do is try to limit idling engines at truck stops and railroad yards; incentivize the conversion to cleaner-fuel vehicles and push for more trees and better soundwalls to block some freeway emissions from neighbors.

Cars and trucks will get cleaner in the coming decade, however. Starting next year, new SUVs sold in California have to start reducing pollution emissions, with the goal of meeting passenger car standards in 2010. And new heavy-duty diesel engines will have to be 90 percent cleaner in 2007.

But truck and car turnover is slow. And traffic congestion in Los Angeles will only get worse.

With new homes projected to add thousands of vehicle trips to local freeways in the coming years, average morning rush-hour speeds are expected to drop to 16 mph by 2025, from 31 mph in 1998, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Congestion leads to idling; idling leads to more pollution.

``If you're having growth in traffic counts, that would reduce or even cancel out any reductions you'd get with new diesel regulations,'' said Atwood, the AQMD spokesman.

Congestion relief would help, but plans to widen or double-deck portions of the 405 Freeway are sketchy and plans to widen or add mass transit to the 101 Freeway were dropped, although they may be resurrected to help lessen air pollution.

In addition, the state budget crisis has also jeopardized the future of freeway improvements.

AQMD officials want to toughen regulations for emissions on diesel tailpipes and convert more heavy-duty engines to cleaner-burning fuels. They also want to increase the use of mass transit, and get more motorists off the roads - an idea that appeals to neighbors of the 405.

``In looking at solutions, rapid transit makes a lot more sense rather than this idea that we are married to everybody having three vehicles,'' said Eleanor Wilson, a retired therapist who from her garden can hear the trucks rumble by on the 405. ``I think the people who are victims the most are the people who sit on the freeway three or four hours a day.''

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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Sources: South Coast Air Quality Management District; Daily News research

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist