« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
April 27, 2006
What’s the State of Your Air?
As we announce the results of this year’s American Lung Association State of the Air report, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about the report, and things you can do to help protect our nation’s lungs.
The State of the Air report assigns grades to counties throughout the United States with respect to two of the most pervasive air pollutants, ozone (smog) and particles (soot). Take a couple of moments to see how your community fares, by clicking here and typing in your zip code.
How’d you do? If your county scored an F, unfortunately you’re not alone. According to this year’s report, more than 150 million Americans still live in counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of soot and/or smog air pollution. The good news is that, believe it or not, we are seeing real improvements in the air quality in much of the nation, but we’re still a long way from winning the battle against dirty air.
This year we are focusing our attention on the millions of people who live in U.S. port and industrial cities because two big contributors to dirty air are marine and locomotive sources. The EPA has promised to issue guidelines for limiting air pollution from these sources, but has not yet acted. You can help right away by sending an online letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson urging him to issue tough regulations that will clean up dirty diesel locomotives and boats.
Does clean air really make a difference to our health? The answer is yes. Mounting scientific evidence shows that cleaning up the source of air pollution results in cleaner air and less illness and death. A recent study out of Harvard’s School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston showed that when particle air pollution declines in a city, the death rate also declines in the city. While air pollution affects everyone, in particular, people with conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are affected. As if that’s not enough, the nearly 40 million children under 18 and the 17 million adults who are 65 and over are also at risk in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone or particle pollution. I can’t stress enough the fact that cleaner air saves lives.
How can you help? The following are steps you can take to help in our continued quest for cleaner air:
- Drive less, not only will you be saving money due to the soaring gas prices, but you’ll be helping the environment. Vehicle emissions are a major source of air pollution. Combine trips, carpool, use mass transit whenever possible and walk more.
- Care for your car. Regular maintenance and tune-ups, changing the oil and checking tire inflation can improve gas mileage, extend your car's life and increase its resale value. It can also reduce traffic congestion due to preventable breakdowns and it could reduce your car's emissions by more than half.
- Get fuel when it's cool. Refueling during cooler periods of the day or in the evening can prevent gas fumes from heating up and creating ozone. And that can help reduce ozone alert days.
- Don't top off the tank. It releases gas fumes into the air and cancels the benefits of the pump's anti-pollution devices. So stopping short of a full tank is safer and reduces pollution.
- Don’t burn wood or trash. These practices are among the largest sources of air-borne particles in many parts of the country. Convert woodstoves to natural gas, which emits far fewer pollutants. Compost and recycle as much as possible and dispose of other waste properly; don’t burn it. Support local efforts to ban outdoor burning of construction and yard wastes.
- Participate in community reviews of local air pollution plans and support state and local efforts to clean up air pollution.
- Use less electricity. Turn out lights and use energy-efficient appliances.
Also remember to take measures to protect yourself. During the summer months, ozone levels are at their highest, but particle pollution can be a threat year round.
If you exercise outdoors, here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Exercise early in the day or in the evening, avoid midday or afternoon training.
- Avoid strenuous outdoor work,if possible, when ozone smog or other pollution levels are high.
- Avoid congested streets and rush hour traffic; pollution levels can be high up to 50 feet from the roadway.
- Make sure teachers, coaches and recreation officials know about air pollution and act accordingly.
Be aware of the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels on a daily basis and act accordingly. The AQI is the standard system that state and local air pollution control programs use to notify the public about levels of air pollution. The AQI levels are generally reported in the local newspapers, television and radio news reports and online at www.epa.gov/airnow. For more information on AQI, click here.
Posted by lungblogposter at 10:00 AM | Comments (5)
April 11, 2006
Should Lung Cancer Patients Quit Smoking?
We all know that smoking leads to a variety of deadly diseases and the best protection against diseases such as lung cancer and COPD is to stop smoking. We know that by quitting smoking you can add years to your life but does it still help once a patient is diagnosed with lung cancer? A recent laboratory study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is now suggesting that nicotine can actually interfere with chemotherapy in lung cancer patients and lessen its effectiveness in fighting the disease. I want to emphasize that this study was performed on cells in a laboratory and we don’t yet know the human significance. This is important to point out, because the study suggests that nicotine, in any form, including nicotine replacement products, can reduce the efficacy of chemotherapy treatment.
While there’s no doubt that quitting smoking is a good thing, many people have achieved success by using nicotine replacement products, so we obviously want to encourage people to quit any way they can. However, this preliminary research has brought into question whether or not lung cancer patients, or all cancer patients, should use nicotine replacement products to quit. This is a very important issue and one that requires additional research, including human clinical trials, since there are so many differences between a living, breathing human and a dish full of cells in a laboratory.
This situation is particularly complicated because people who use nicotine patches or gum instead of cigarettes avoid taking in a variety of other poisons. This complicates the picture of just how harmful nicotine is in those forms -- especially since the patches and gums help people quit smoking, in the first place. So, it’s possible that the value of smoking cessation may outweigh the theoretical risk of blunting the effect of chemotherapy. In any case, we will continue to monitor the situation closely should new developments occur.
And, as always, if you’re still smoking, I urge you to quit. Many people are now enjoying smoke-free lives through the help they received from the American Lung Association’s Freedom from Smoking online program or by speaking with one of our stop-smoking experts at our HelpLine at 1-800-LUNGUSA. If you’d like to learn more about chemotherapy, the National Cancer Institute has some valuable information on their website at the National Cancer Institute.
Posted by lungblogposter at 11:09 AM | Comments (18)
