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Clean Air Congress - Health Impacts
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Overview
Exposure to harmful air pollution is a threat to public health
While the catastrophic episodes of air pollution experienced in the 1950s
and 1960s have been eliminated, recent studies have documented serious
adverse health effects from air pollution, even at today’s dramatically
reduced levels of air pollutants.
In California, the major pollutants associated with adverse health effects
are ground-level ozone, fine particulate matter, and toxic air pollutants.
Studies have documented the relationship between exposure to harmful air
pollution, especially toxic diesel emissions, even for short durations, to:
- Respiratory illness,
especially asthma
- Cardiovascular
disease
- Infertility
- Cancer
Southern California residents suffer from breathing some of the
worst air pollution in the United States. Studies have linked fine
particle air pollution in Southern California to as many as:
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6,200 premature deaths per year
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980,000 lost work days
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2,400 hospitalizations
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140,000 asthma & lower respiratory symptoms
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Videos & Brochures
For more information on the health impacts of air pollution, you may
wish to watch these informative videos.
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- USC Children’s Health Study Video
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Video: A Breath of Air: What Pollution is Doing to Our Children
(28.32 - 2007
Best Viewed with Windows Media 7 or higher
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AQMD Recent Studies on the Health Effects from
Air Pollution Brochure
(PDF, 914 KB)
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Studies
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In the News
Dirty air causes wheezy kids, study reports
December 17, 2009 –
Researchers at the Columbia University Center for Children’s
Environmental Health followed more than 700 children in the New York City
area from birth to age two and found that high ambient levels of some metals
were risk factors for wheezing, while exposure to carbon particles was
associated with coughing during the cold and flu season.
More
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AQMD Conferences on Air Pollution and Health
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Public Health Agencies
Community Health Organizations
Additional Resources
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