60 Percent Of Americans Affected By Air Pollution
The American Lung Association reported Wednesday that despite a growing trend in “˜going green’ and strict laws aimed at improving air quality, 60% of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels.
The group ranked the pollution levels of U.S. cities and counties based on data collected by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency from 2005 to 2007.
The report indicates that air pollution at times reaches unhealthy levels in almost every major city, affecting the 186.1 million people abiding in those areas.
Last year the number was much less at 125 million people. This discrepancy can be attributed to the recent changes in federal ozone standards, which caused more counties to recognize unhealthy levels of pollution.
The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, primarily affect the body’s respiratory and the cardiovascular system and may range from subtle biochemical and physiological changes to trouble breathing, wheezing, coughing, etc. Exposure to pollutants can result in an increased need for medication, doctor visits, and is a cause of lung cancer and premature death.
Janice E. Nolen, the association’s assistant vice president on national policy and advocacy says, "Six out of 10 Americans right now as we speak live in areas where the air can be dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, dirty enough to shape how kids’ lungs develop and even dirty enough to kill.”
The report found that cities including Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington D.C and Baltimore have made improvements in air quality over the last 10 years.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside region of Southern California still holds its status of metropolitan area with the highest levels of ozone pollution, as it has in the past 10 reports.
Other front-runners of ozone pollution include Houston-Baytown-Huntsville and Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas.
Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.; and the California areas of Fresno-Madera, Bakersfield and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside are the areas with the most short-term (24-hour) particle pollution or soot.
The cleanest metro area in all categories was Fargo, N.D.
The “State of the Air Report” rankings are based on ozone pollution levels produced when heat and sunlight make contact with pollutants from power plants, cars, refineries and other sources.
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