The EnviroBlog

Exposure to elevated ozone levels can cause breathing problems, aggravate asthma and other pre-existing lung diseases, and make people more susceptible to respiratory infection.  When ozone levels are elevated, people should refrain from strenuous outdoor activity, especially sensitive populations such as children and adults with respiratory problems. When ozone is forecast to be unhealthy, EPA asks the public to take action. The public can help reduce ozone by: Using public transportation, car pooling and/or combining trips; Avoiding the use of small gasoline powered engines, such as lawn mowers tractors chain saws power washers air compressors weed whackers Lastly, you can help by not topping off the gas tank to your car.  This causes gasoline to spill, you breath in these hazardous fumes, it disrupts the nation's vapor recovery system and your car's tank no longer has room for the gas to expand. Posted by: Virginia Robertson For more information...

Despite improvements made to air quality by restricting, refining incineration, and reclaiming heavy metals like mercury, Asthma has doubled in the last decade.  Last year, 4000 people have died and 1.8 million required trips to the Emergency Department.  Still, for a variety of reasons, the environmental controls component of asthma management guidelines tend to be less well understood and less effectively managed or implemented by health practitioners than the other components. In recent years, the National Institutes of Health and others have funded robust research on the effectiveness of environmental interventions, demonstrating substantial positive impacts on symptoms, quality of life, and utilization of health.  For thousands of people with Asthma, including those whose asthma is in relative good control, this new information holds great promise. Two key air pollutants can affect asthma.  One is Ozone (found in smog). The other is particle pollution (fou...