Analysis: Half of U.S. breathes dirty air

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Analysis: Half of U.S. breathes dirty air

By AL SWANSON

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science & article=UPI-1-

20050428-16503200-bc-us-airquality-analysis.xml

CHICAGO, April 28 (UPI) -- A hotel at O'Hare International Airport

recently began offering special " enviro-rooms " for guests suffering

from asthma or allergies to give them relief from coughing,

sneezing, wheezing, headaches, chest tightness and nasal congestion.

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Enhancing air quality in just two of the hotel's 858 rooms cost

thousands of dollars. Hilton wants to assess guest response to the

new rooms for a month before deciding whether to expand the pilot

program to 300 rooms at a cost of $7,000 to $15,000 per room.

The " environ-rooms " have air purifiers, air-quality monitors, new

hardwood flooring, non-vinyl wallpaper, wood furniture, all-cotton

bedding and wooden blinds. The rooms are continuously monitored for

temperature, relative humidity, odor, carbon dioxide, carbon

monoxide and other gasses.

" Asthma attacks and allergies are frequently triggered by exposure

to dusts, molds or chemicals, " said Nardella, president of

Environmental Technology Solutions Inc. of Glen Ellyn, Ill., which

is doing the retrofitting. " In addition to the rooms being monitored

on a minute-by-minute basis, each room is sanitized and purified

after each guest and only products and amenities that are toxin-free

are used and stocked in the room. "

" Literally everything was removed from these rooms -- floor

coverings, wall coverings, drapes, furniture, bedding --

everything, " said J. Lynn, general manager of the Hilton

Chicago O'Hare Airport.

The rooms, which come at no additional cost, are believed to be the

first of their kind in the nation. A premium charge will be tested

in May to determine whether guests are willing pay for the clean-

environment amenities.

A study by the American Lung Association found more than 50 million

U.S. residents live with unhealthy levels of ozone and air

pollution. More than 20 million people are asthmatic and as many as

70 million suffer from various allergies, according to the National

Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Exhaust fumes from diesel buses, trucks, construction equipment and

coal-fired power plants have made air in the Chicago area as dirty

as the air in New York City, according to the American Lung

Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

While national air quality improved in parts of the country between

2001 and 2003 because of federal Clean Air Act initiatives, many

urban areas remain among the unhealthiest for fine particulate

matter that can cause lung disease, lung cancer, strokes and

cardiovascular disease.

High levels of ozone cause shortness of breath, emphysema, chronic

bronchitis and trigger asthma attacks.

" We're not meeting ozone smog standards in the Chicago area and

we're not meeting fine particle, or what people usually think of as

soot pollution levels, either, " Urbaszewski, director of the

lung association's environmental health programs, told Chicago

Public Radio.

-- Nearly half the U.S. population (49 percent) lives in areas with

unhealthy levels of ozone.

-- More than 26 percent live in areas with unhealthy short-term

levels of particulate pollution.

-- One-in-five lives in areas with unhealthy year-round levels of

particulate pollution.

-- About 50.2 million Americans, nearly 17 percent, live in 47

counties with unhealthy levels of all three types of air pollutions:

ozone and short-term and year-round particle pollution.

Adults 65 and older, children under 18, adults and children with

asthma, chronic bronchitis, lung disease, cardiovascular disease and

diabetes are more at risk from air pollution, according to the

American Lung Association's " State of the Air: 2005 " report released

Thursday.

" Dirty air threatens the lives and health of far too many

Americans, " said L. Kirkwood, president and chief executive

officer of the American Lung Association. " Unfortunately, some of

the largest producers of dirty air are big energy companies, who

have worked with their friends in Congress on legislation to change

the rules so they don't have to clean up their pollution.

Fortunately, the Senate recently blocked that bill, but the vote was

very close. We need to ask ourselves: Why was Congress even

considering a bill that protects corporate polluters instead of the

public? "

Car-dependent Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Hanford and Visalia,

Calif., were among the worst for levels of ozone and particulate

pollution in the nation.

A study released by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group

estimated smoggy air costs Californians more than $521 million a

year because of missed school days, visits to emergency rooms and

hospital admissions.

Nine counties in the Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside areas

had ozone levels more than double the level considered safe for

children to play outdoors on bad air days.

The non-profit environmental advocacy group said California could

prevent 3.3 million school absences and 4,000 asthma-related

hospitalizations a year by adopting tougher air-quality standards.

California's Air Resources Board met Thursday in El Monte to

consider stricter ozone limits in the state's 34 air-quality

districts.

New York, Newark, N.J., and Bridgeport, Conn., had the dirtiest air

in the Northeast; Washington, Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the Mid-

Atlantic; Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis,

Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, in their region; Birmingham, Ala.,

Louisville, Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Knoxville, Tenn., in the

Southeast; and Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth in the South.

In his recent State of the City address, Houston Mayor Bill White

asked eight scientists and medical doctors on a task force on

reducing air-quality risks for advice on cutting pollution and

protecting public health.

Eugene and Springfield in Oregon had the unhealthiest air in the

Northwest.

" Evidence is mounting each year underscoring just how dangerous air

pollution really is. The more we learn, the more critical cleaning

up the air becomes, " said Dr. Norman H. Edelman, executive vice

president and chief medical officer of the American Lung Association.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is using National

Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month in May as an opportunity to help

asthma suffers properly do spring cleaning at home and at work to

reduce allergy symptoms.

The foundation recommends maintaining humidity below 50 percent,

vacuuming regularly with a double-bag or Hepa filter vacuum cleaner,

keeping pets off furniture, bathing cats and dogs weekly, encasing

mattresses and pillows in airtight, allergen-proof covers and

laundering bed linens in 130-degree water weekly.

People suffering from mold allergies can use exhaust fans, run air

conditioning during humid months, fix leaky pipes and use an EPA-

registered cleaning solution containing bleach to kill mold spores

on hard non-porous surfaces.

" With indoor allergies, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a

pound of cure, " said Dr. Jay Portnoy, chief of allergy, asthma and

immunology at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City,

Mo.

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