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The Environmental Protection Agency is finally taking a much-needed look at national air quality standards for fine particulate matter pollution, or soot. Cleaning up the soot and haze that blankets many of our nation's cities, including right here in Westchester County, will save lives and protect the health of children, older adults, people with lung and heart disease and diabetes.
Westchester County's grades in the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2012 report card gave the county a failing grade for ozone pollution and highlighted that we need to work harder to clean up particle pollution. If stronger standards are not enacted, even more New Yorkers' lives are at risk.
Fine particles are one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution, as demonstrated in evidence from roughly 10,000 peer-reviewed studies. Fine particles can trigger asthma attacks, increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, damage lung tissue and airways, and even kill. More likely than not, when air quality is poor, we expect to see more patients seeking care for a variety of respiratory and cardiovascular-related emergencies.
The air we breathe is the great common denominator: it does not differentiate among socioeconomic or ethnic backgrounds; all are affected. We need a much tighter particle standard to protect public health.
It's time for the EPA to move forward to give us a fighting chance, because there is still no cure for dirty air.
Adrienne Weiss Harrison, M.D.
The writer is a pediatrician and an American Lung Association board member.