Fine Air Scare

Yesterday, I noticed a few articles dealing with fine-air particle standards, as set by the EPA.  The articles mostly dealt with areas around the U.S. which failed these recently adopted stringent standards.  Here’s one article, from the FresnoBee, noting that the "San Joaquin Valley flunks..., these standards.

The EPA’s reasoning, for setting these new standards, is as follows.

"EPA officials in Washington said pollution kills 15,000 people annually. In the Valley, more than 1,200 people die prematurely each year from air pollution, according to state figures."

Scary stuff.

Compare the above article, to this article, written by Michael Fumento, titled “Dirty air? Or dirty tricks?," which was put out on the wire by the Scripps Howard News Service. An excerpt from Fumento’s article.

"You might not think you’re coughing and gasping for air, but, trust them _ you are. In fact, “fine particle pollution (technically known as PM2.5) from U.S. power plants cuts short the lives of nearly 24,000 people each year, including 2,800 from lung cancer,” says the report. And we’re not talking about losing a few days, but rather an average of 14 years. Air pollution also causes more than 38,000 nonfatal heart attacks and more than half a million cases of asthma, it claims.

Better, it seems, to smoke four packs of Camels a day than live near a coal- or oil-fired plant. But letting just a little ray of sunshine come through that soot-blackened air, here’s what we find."

Maybe we should all just start wearing masks, ala the Gloved One.

Posted by on 07/01 at 04:19 AM

  1. I live in a city but would much rather live in a country setting if I could help it away from the busy streets and polluted air.

    Posted by king of allergies  on  08/05  at  01:42 PM

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