Utah asthma action plan: Avoid pollution

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.

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Chicago Air Pollution Action Day today and tomorrow Video

Today the Air Quality Index for Ozone went over 100 in parts of Chicago and northwest Indiana. This triggered an orange alert, meaning the air quality is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, and creating an Ozone Action Day. The Ozone Action Day is forecast to continue into Saturday for almost all of Indiana, Chicagoland and St. Louis Metro East in Illinois, and Kenosha/Racine, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Green Bay in Wisconsin.

via Chicago Air Pollution Action Day today and tomorrow Video – Chicago wellness | Examiner.com.

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Beijing pollution monitored with kite-mounted sensors

Beijing is notorious for its grey-brownish smog days and poor air quality.

Two students from the US are trying to raise awareness by conducting workshops for the local residents on how to build sensors small enough to be mounted on kites.

via BBC News – Beijing pollution monitored with kite-mounted sensors.

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Singapore to Achieve Cleaner Air by 2020

Singapore is aiming for cleaner air and has set 2020 as the deadline to make this happen.

To work towards this, it has adopted World Health Organization guidelines on air quality as a target.

Until now, Singapore had used these guidelines only as benchmarks.

To achieve cleaner air, more stringent anti-pollution measures for vehicles, refineries and power generation companies will have to be introduced.

In the next two years, for example, the sulphur content of fuels will be pared down.

The National Environment Agency NEA will put information on air quality on its website.

via Singapore to Achieve Cleaner Air by 2020 | The Jakarta Globe.

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Israeli green groups furious at Health Ministry for backtracking on Haifa air pollution

Environmentalists were outraged on Thursday over the Health Ministrys decision that Haifa should not, after all, be declared an “area suffering from air pollution,” terming it “bizarre” and “a sorry joke.

“The ministrys decision not to declare Haifa polluted under the Clean Air Law, first published in Haaretz on thursday, came after Prof. Shmuel Rishpon of Haifas municipal health office, who originally supported an official pollution designation, changed his position after meeting with municipal officials. “In weighing the advantages and disadvantages stemming from a classification of Haifa as an area suffering from air pollution, the disadvantages have more weight,” he wrote.

via Israeli green groups furious at Health Ministry for backtracking on Haifa air pollution – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

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FAQ: How do the Sportsta™ and City™ mask differ?

How do the Sportsta™ and City™ mask differ?

 

Aside from the differences in filtration (explained below), the Sportsta™ mask offers the wearer increased comfort over the City™ mask for the following two reasons:

 

1. The Powa valves incorporated in the Sportsta™ have a larger bore size than the Standard valves allowing heat, water vapour and Carbon dioxide to be exhaled more efficiently through the valve system and not through the filter material. The larger bore size also allows a sports person to compete at peak physical exertion without experiencing breathing resistance when exhaling.

 

2. The sides of the Sportsta™ mask have mesh side panels to assist ventilation of the face, keeping the user cool.

 

For more FAQ,  see Respro® Mask FAQ

 

 

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Code Orange Air Quality Forecasts Issued for Aug. 23 for Six Pennsylvania Areas

Air quality forecasts predict Thursday, Aug. 23, to be code Orange for ozone in six regions across the state, the Department of Environmental Protection announced today.

DEP and its regional air quality partnerships have forecast an Orange air quality action day for ozone for Thursday in the Lehigh Valley, Liberty-Clairton, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Susquehanna Valley regions.

DEP has also issued code Orange air quality forecasts for ozone for Thursday in Mercer County.

On such days, young children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems, such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and should limit outdoor activities.

via Code Orange Air Quality Forecasts Issued for Aug. 23 for Six Pennsylvania Areas – US Politics Today.

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SMOG: Unhealthful air grips the region

The 2012 smog season is shaping up to be worst in years for Inland residents. From July 18 through Thursday, Aug. 17, ozone levels were in the unhealthful range every day. Forecasters said the weeks ahead likely will bring more of the same.What’s making the situation more punishing is triple-digit heat with high humidity — the result of monsoon conditions that funnel moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.

via SMOG: Unhealthful air grips the region | Breaking News | PE.com – Press-Enterprise.

For local air quality information: South Coast Air Quality Management District

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