Smog Can Cause
Asthma, Research of Kids Suggests
by Traci Watson, USA Today, Feb. 1, 2002, p. 3A
A
new study of kids in California who play sports provides the first
substantial data suggesting that smog not only exacerbates asthma, but
also causes it.
The study [published in the Feb. 2,
2002 issue of THE LANCET] looked at more than 3,000 children living in 12
cities in Southern California. Scientists found that children living in
high-smog areas were much more likely to develop asthma if they were avid
athletes than if they didn't take part in sports.
"We've made a lot of progress in
decreasing air pollution across the United States, but our study and a
variety of other studies suggest there are still hazards to children from
air pollution," said lead author Rob McConnell of the University of
Southern California's Keck School of Medicine.
It has long been known that air
pollution makes asthma worse. That's especially true of smog, or ozone,
which is created when chemicals from power plans, factories, and cars mix
with sunlight.
To find out whether smog can
actually cause asthma, McConnell and his colleagues recruited fourth,
seventh and tenth graders and followed them as long as five years. In the
high-ozone cities, the the keenest athletes [those who played three
or more sports] developed asthma three to four times more of ten than the
kids who played no sports.
This was not true in the
low-zone
cities, which suggests that the ozone in the air, rather than sports
participation itself, was to blame. Children who are exercising hard
inhale 10 to 20 times more air than kids slouched in front of the
TV.
Toxic
mold news...
• In
May, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a $1.04 million award to
two women whose landlord failed to address leaks and mold
problems in their apartments, resulting in asthma attacks and
other health problems. New Haverford Partnership v. Stroot, 2001
Del. Lexis 201 (May 7, 2001).
•In October,
a homeowners group settled, for $1.3 million, toxic mold claims against
builders and contractors. Club at Wood Ranch v. Roberts Group, No. 21522
(Ventura Co., Cal., Super. Ct.).
 Asthma
afflicts about 15 million Americans, including five million
children. Since 1980, the biggest growth in asthma cases has been in
children under five. The disease is a leading cause of childhood
hospitalizations and school absenteeism, accounting for 100,000
child hospital visits a year, at a cost of almost $2 billion, and
causing 10 million school days missed each year.
courtesy of EPA.
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