State of the Air: The 2009 Report

http://www.stateoftheair.org/
Click on the above link to find out how the air you breathe is directly affected by OUTSIDE standards. Then maybe stop worrying about a few smokers.
There is always "worse"...

XOXO
Anne

FYI:
I live in Brown County, Wisconsin.
It got an "F".

What's your rating?


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Breathing polluted air can seriously harm your health and even shorten your life.
For 10 years, the American Lung Association has used data from state air quality monitors to produce its annual State of the Air report.

The more you learn about the air you breathe, the more you can protect your health and take steps to make our cleaner and healthier.

FACT: Steps you can take to improve air quality will also help fight climate change.
Drive less.
Don’t burn wood or trash.
Use less electricity.
Make sure your school system requires clean buses.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_sc/polluted_cities;_ylt=AoMW6nM4M_E4rchjISrzZwjWDrMF;_ylu=X3oDMTE5OGF1ZWUwBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bi1tb3N0LXZpZXdlZARzbGsDcmVwb3J0bW9zdGFt

Report: Most Americans in areas with unhealthy air

Tuesday April 28, 2009. Sixty percent of Americans live in areas …
By NOAKI SCHWARTZ, Associated Press Writer Noaki Schwartz, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 12 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Sixty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels, despite a growing green movement and more stringent laws aimed at improving air quality, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday.

The public-health group ranked the pollution levels of U.S. cities and counties based on air quality measurements that state and local agencies reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 2005 and 2007.

Overall, the report found that air pollution at times reaches unhealthy levels in almost every major city and that 186.1 million people live in those areas. The number is much higher than last year's figure of about 125 million people because recent changes to the federal ozone standard mean more counties recognize unhealthy levels of pollution.

Health effects from air pollution include changes in lung function, coughing, heart attacks, lung cancer and premature death.

"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," said Janice E. Nolen, the association's assistant vice president on national policy and advocacy.

Cities including Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Baltimore have seen improvements in air quality over the last decade, the report said.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside region of Southern California remained the metropolitan area with the highest levels of ozone pollution, as it has in each of the past 10 reports. Other metropolitan areas considered to have the most ozone pollution included Houston-Baytown-Huntsville and Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas.

The areas with the most short-term particle pollution or soot were Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.; and the California areas of Fresno-Madera, Bakersfield and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside.

The cleanest metro area in all categories was Fargo, N.D.

The rankings in the "State of the Air Report" were based on ozone pollution levels produced when heat and sunlight come into contact with pollutants from power plants, cars, refineries and other sources.

The lung association also studied short-term and year-round levels of particle pollution, which is made up of a mix of tiny solid and liquid particles in the air.

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http://www.stateoftheair.org/2009/health-risks/overview.html

State of the Air: 2009 Health Risks Overview

Ozone and particle pollution are the most widespread air pollutants and among the most dangerous. Recent research has revealed new insights into how they can harm the body including taking the lives of infants and altering the lungs of children. All in all, the evidence shows that the risks are greater than we once thought. Recent findings provide more evidence about the health impacts of these pollutants:

* Reducing air pollution has extended life expectancy. Thanks to a drop in particle pollution between 1980 and 2000, life expectancy in 51 U.S. cities increased by 5 months on average, according to a recent analysis.

* The annual death toll from particle pollution may be even greater than previously understood. The California Air Resources Board recently tripled the estimate of premature deaths in California from particle pollution to 18,000 annually.

* Long term exposure to air pollution.especially from highway traffic.harms women, even while in their 50s. Exposure to particle pollution to appears to increase women's risk of lower lung function, developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and dying prematurely.

* Busy highways are high risk zones. Pollution from heavy highway traffic contributes to higher risks for heart attack, allergies, premature births and the death of infants around the time they are born. New studies looking at the impact of traffic pollution even in cities with generally cleaner air expanded the concern over the health effects of chronic exposure to exhaust from heavy traffic.

* Ozone pollution can shorten life, a conclusion confirmed by the latest scientific review by the National Research Council. New evidence appeared that some segments of the population may face higher risks from dying prematurely because of ozone pollution, including communities with high unemployment or high public transit use and Blacks.

* Truck drivers, dockworkers and railroad workers may face higher risk of death from lung cancer and COPD from breathing diesel emissions on the job. Studies found that these workers who inhaled diesel exhaust on the job were much more likely to die from lung cancer, COPD and heart disease.

Two types of air pollution dominate the problem in the U.S.. ozone and particle pollution. They aren't the only serious air pollutants: others include carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, as well as hundreds of toxic substances. However, ozone and particle pollution represent the most widespread.