Factories border them on either side. West Coast Stainless Products is across the street. Behind the homes is a busyard, and other industrial plants cluster all around. While the people who live in the apartments on 53rd Street identify West Coast Stainless Products as the source of many of the fumes which plague the neighborhood, it is clearly not the only industrial plant in Asthmatown. Many of them have records with the Air Quality Management District as emitters of toxic substances.
Residents breathe a chemical soup from many sources.
And the cumulative impact of exposure to many chemicals at one time is potentially different, and much greater, than exposure to just one substance from one source. It can weaken the body's immune system in particular, making it much more difficult to fight off infections. And children are the most susceptible of all. At first I liked this neighborhood because it's kind of secluded. There are a lot of good people who live here.