THE GUARDIAN - Chemical-laden dust from southern California’s drying Salton Sea is probably harming the lungs of people around the shrinking body of water, and the effects are especially pronounced in children, new peer-reviewed research from the University of California, Irvine, shows.
A separate peer-reviewed study from the University of California, Riverside, also found the Salton Sea’s contaminated dust seemed to alter lung microbiome, which could trigger pulmonary problems that have been reported around the lake.
The two new papers are part of a series of studies that are revealing the environmental and public health risks of dust from the drying Salton Sea, which sits about 60 miles (96km) south-east of metropolitan Los Angeles. The dust has been found to travel more than 100 miles, though the prevailing winds blow to the south-east.