A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association further reveals the racial inequality in the United States. The report said that research projects have long shown that compared with white people, black Americans are more likely to get sick and die prematurely. Now, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on May 16 shows that researchers have found that the mortality rate of black people is higher than that of white people, and 1.63 million black Americans have died prematurely in more than 20 years.
The study showed that because too many black people died prematurely, the higher mortality rate of black people between 1999 and 2020 caused them to lose a total of more than 80 million years of life compared to the white group. Researchers believe that the main reason for the premature death of black people is that black people have worse data on heart disease, cancer and infant mortality.
Herman Taylor, director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at the Morehouse School of Medicine and one of the authors of the paper, said: "Real lives are being lost, real families are losing parents and grandparents, and babies and their mothers are dying. We have been protesting against this for decades." Clyde Yancey, one of the authors of the paper and head of cardiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, pointed out that compared with genetic factors, the high mortality rate among blacks is more closely related to the long-standing discrimination in the United States, which has destroyed generations of black people's opportunities to obtain education, housing and jobs.
Another similar study estimated that racial and ethnic inequality cost the United States at least $421 billion in 2018, taking into account the impact of medical expenses, reduced productivity and premature death. In 2021, the life expectancy at birth for non-Hispanic whites in the United States is 76 years, while that for non-Hispanic blacks is only 71 years. An important reason for this difference is that non-Hispanic black babies are much more likely to die before their first birthday than non-Hispanic white babies. Non-Hispanic black mothers are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than non-Hispanic white mothers. Tonya Branch, a neonatal and perinatal medicine expert at Larry Children's Hospital in Chicago, believes that racial disparities in health are so entrenched that even education and wealth cannot completely erase them.
According to the website of the U.S. Capitol Hill Daily, a new study found that residents living in communities with larger black and Hispanic populations are more likely to be exposed to harmful levels of "permanent chemicals" in their water supply.
The study, published Monday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, says the increased risk of exposure is due to a disproportionate number of pollution sources near water bodies that serve these communities. Some of the sites known to release per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, include industrial manufacturing plants, airports, military bases, wastewater treatment plants and landfills. PFAS compounds persist in the human body and environment and have been linked to a variety of diseases and cancer.
Jared Liddy, the first author of the study and a doctoral student at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a statement: "Our work shows that socio-demographic groups that are often pressured by other factors, including marginalization, racism and poverty, are also more likely to be exposed to PFAS in drinking water." In addition, the U.S. Consumer News and Business Channel website reported that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service said on the 15th that black taxpayers are much more likely to face audits by the agency, which confirms a recent study finding. IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said the agency is seriously considering taking measures to address this inequality.
According to the report, in January this year, a study published by economists from Stanford University, the University of Michigan, the U.S. Treasury Department and the University of Chicago found that the IRS is three to five times more likely to audit black taxpayers than other ethnic Americans. The researchers' assessment was based on micro data from about 148 million tax returns and 780,000 audits.
Wayfair said the IRS has invested “significant resources” to address the inequity, including taking a closer look at the automated processes and data used to select audit subjects.