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The
Air We Breathe
We have researched
and gathered together numerous links to information
about children and their environmental health. You
may access this information by choosing a category
from the menu to the right.
Long-Term
Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution
Associations
have been found between day-to-day particulate air
pollution and increased risk of various adverse health
outcomes, including cardiopulmonary mortality. However,
studies of health effects of long-term particulate
air pollution have been less conclusive. Read more
about the study to assess the relationship between
long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution
and all-cause, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary mortality.
The conclusion was found that long-term exposure to
combustion-related fine particulate air pollution
is an important environmental risk factor for cardiopulmonary
and lung cancer mortality.
 Read
more about the study and the authors by visiting JAMA
-- Journals of the American Medical Association http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n9/abs/joc11435.html
Indoor
Air Quality in Schools
Texas
Institute for the Indoor Environment
 Urban
residents spend approximately 90% of their time
indoors (US EPA 1996b). During their kindergarten,
elementary and secondary education years, children
will spend a minimum of 23% of their time inside
of a school building. By comparison, they spend
510% of their time outdoors. Given that it is unhealthy,
particularly for children and the elderly, when
outdoor pollutant levels exceed the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (US EPA 1997), we become even
more concerned when children and the elderly are
exposed to environments where concentrations of
air pollutants are 2 to 5 times higher than the
maximum acceptable outdoor levels (US EPA 1995).
Air
Pollution Fact Sheet
Environmental
Health Center - A Division of the National
Safety Council
Air
pollution is the contamination of air by the discharge
of harmful substances. Air pollution can cause health
problems including burning eyes and nose, itchy
irritated throat, and breathing problems. Some chemicals
found in polluted air can cause cancer, birth defects,
brain and nerve damage, and long-term injury to
the lungs and breathing passages in certain circumstances.
Above certain concentrations and durations, certain
air pollutants are extremely dangerous and can cause
severe injury or death.
 Environmental
Protection Agency
Office
of Children's Health Protection
American
Academy of Family Physicians
Outdoor
Air Pollution: Possible Health Effects
Air
pollution is made up of many kinds of gases, droplets
and particles that reduce the quality of the air.
Air can be polluted in both the city and the country.
American
Lung Association
Children
and Ozone Air Pollution
While
exposure to ozone air pollution causes adverse health
effects in most people, children are especially
susceptible to these effects. Children spend significantly
more time outdoors, especially in the summertime
when ozone levels are the highest. National statistics
show that children spend an average of 50 percent
more time outdoors than do adults.
Physicians
for Social Responsibility
Air
Pollution and Health
Air
pollution is a general term for a variety of substances
and gases in our air that pose risks to health.
Pollutants include nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide,
carbon dioxide, particulate matter, volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), and some naturally occurring substances
such as pollen. The combination of nitrogen oxides
and VOCs in the presence of sunlight forms ozone,
the major constituent of smog. Ozone has been shown
to exacerbate asthma and cause shortness of breath
and lung damage.
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