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More than 350 scientists, researchers and health professionals from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic have backed the regional effort to reduce carbon emissions from transportation and pressed governors working on the plan to ensure it is specific about how the program can help communities that have contended with a disproportionate share of transportation pollution.

In a letter submitted last week to the portal for comment on the developing Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), the group of 357 scientists and doctors shared their concern that communities of color in the region “are exposed to 66 percent more fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – from cars, trucks, and buses than white residents.”

Those particles are so small, the letter said, that they can “penetrate deeply into the lungs and can even enter the bloodstream.” PM2.5 is “one of the most dangerous and widespread forms of air pollution” that can cause cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, and early death.

“As you design a regional program to address transportation emissions, it is critical that you commit to prioritizing clean investments and solutions in communities historically and currently overburdened by this pollution. Without equity squarely built into the policy design, we run the risk of continuing the status quo and exacerbating this injustice,” the one-page letter, which was followed by 13 pages of signatures, concluded.

Gov. Charlie Baker committed Massachusetts to the TCI in late 2018 along with 11 other states and the District of Columbia as they try to address climate change on a regional basis. Those states are now developing a cap-and-invest program modeled on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to drive down emissions from cars and trucks, and facilitate the transition to a low-carbon transportation system.