Amid reports that more Utahns are wheezing and hacking from asthma, and new efforts to counter its curse, there’s an elephant in the air that seems to get little attention: reducing the sickening haze.

Summertime ozone and wintertime inversions send more adults and children to the emergency room with respiratory problems, according to state and national data.

Utah’s new asthma action plan — released Wednesday to help prevent and control symptoms such as breathlessness, coughing, wheezing and chest tightness — emphasizes limiting exposure to pollution. It doesn’t mention reducing pollution.

The omission isn’t because health officials don’t recognize the problem, they say. It’s because improving air quality isn’t the Utah Health Department’s job. That’s up to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

And it may also be a recognition of the enormity of the problem.

via Utah asthma action plan: Avoid pollution | The Salt Lake Tribune.