The one in a million cancer risk from airborne chemicals averages 370 in Passaic County and 317 in Bergen County, meaning that there will be 370 additional people in Passaic and 317 in Bergen who can expect to get cancer in a population of 1 million over their lifetimes. Wherever you have people, you have these emissions. You can't escape it. Even hibernating indoors won't protect people from air pollutants. Carpeting, furniture made with particle board, a gasoline-powered lawnmower sitting unused in an attached garage, and old cans of paint stored in the basement all emit toxic agents, and at levels that can exceed those found outdoors.
Lifestyle choices can make the biggest impact.
Someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day will be exposed to 20 to 50 times more benzene, for example, than someone breathing even the most tainted outdoor air. Sources of emissions Toxic emissions come from three main sources. All the chemicals are either in gasoline or created by burning gasoline, and all are carcinogenic. In every part of New Jersey, all but acetylaldehyde exceed the acceptable cancer risk of one in a population of 1 million. Acetylaldehyde exceeds the cancer benchmark in all of Bergen and most of Passaic and Morris counties.