Issues > March/April 2006 (#113) > Waiting to Inhale: How to Avoid Breathing Polluted Air and Avoid Producing It Too

Waiting to Inhale: How to Avoid Breathing Polluted Air and Avoid Producing It Too

Spring is in the air, and we are all starting to spend more time outdoors, so it makes sense to take a look at air pollution and what you can do to avoid it — and curb its production.

Air and Your Health

We all need to heat our homes and travel from place to place, but the resulting pollutants can sap lung function, bring on an asthma attack, worsen lung diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema and increase the risk of heart attack (see "Health News," GG #109) and lung cancer. New research shows that breathing dirty air is not only bad for the lungs; it is also bad for the brain. A study in the December 2005 issue of Stroke reports that airborne bits of soot and other particulate matter (smaller than 10 micrometers, or PM10) can increase your risk of stroke due to blood clots in the brain.

Stroke is the U.S.'s third leading cause of death, and about 62 million people live in areas exceeding federal particulate matter standards. "When you consider the number of people exposed to air pollution and how many people suffer stroke, even a modest increase in risk becomes a public health concern," says Gregory A. Wellenius, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (at Harvard Medical School).

Grimy Air—What's In It?

Air pollution is a jumble of fine particles and gases, plus ozone that is formed from the reaction of pollutants with sunlight. Burning carbon-rich fuels such as gasoline, coal or wood produces a variety of chemicals, including deadly carbon monoxide, smog-forming nitrogen oxides and cancer-causing chemicals like benzene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). And even short-term exposures to the small (PM2.5 and less) particles in haze result in increased deaths, particularly among women, diabetics and people over 65, as shown in a study of nine California counties published in the January 2006 Environmental Health Perspectives.

Along with these noxious items, the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from vehicle exhaust indirectly affects health by causing higher summer-season temperatures. Scientists at Columbia University predict that heat-related deaths in the New York area could more than double by the 2050s and contribute to the spread of infections like West Nile fever and Lyme's disease.

With the federal government reluctant to restrict carbon dioxide emissions, the states are stepping in. California is adopting such restrictions for model year 2009 vehicles. Ten states have followed suit, affecting roughly one in three cars purchased in the nation. "This is a global challenge and California is setting the stage for how state governments can confront climate change," says Jason Mark, director of the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. (See www.climatechoices.org and www.arb.ca.gov for more information.)

Woodburning Stoves

With home-heating fuel prices sky-high, you may be tempted to use your fireplace or wood-burning stove. But short of free wood, such a stove will probably cost more to operate than oil or natural-gas furnaces. To compare, see www.eia.doe.gov.

Wood stoves that meet EPA-certification standards still emit about 150 times more particulate matter than a gas furnace, and 100 times more than an oil furnace, says the EPA. About 50 percent of the particles emitted from chimneys find their way indoors.

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