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 Asthma: Bush Administration Policies Leave Asthmatics Short of Breath
Soot and smog from industrial facilities and automobiles can increase the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. Last summer, the air in the Atlanta region reached unhealthy levels due to smog pollution on 13 days.1 On such days, asthmatics like Cheryl have to restrict their outdoor activities. Now because the Bush administration is weakening clean air protections, Georgia's air pollution problems stand to get worse. Rather than enforcing proven safeguards and making sure old dirty factories get cleaned up, the Bush administration has made it easier for polluters to spew even more pollution into our air by creating loopholes that weaken the Clean Air Act and its enforcement. The Bush administration is attempting to dramatically weaken the part of the Clean Air Act that requires America's oldest and worst polluting factories, including power plants and refineries, to install modern pollution control technology when they make changes that increase pollution. Scientists know that this part of the Clean Air Act works. In 2001, the EPA said that this provision had resulted in a reduction of at least 4 million tons of pollution between 1997 and 2000.2 If all power plants were using the best available technology to reduce the amount of soot they produce, we would significantly cut the number of asthma attacks and hospitalizations caused by asthma. By exempting factories from this rule, the Bush administration is placing local communities and those downwind at increasing risk of health damage and pollution. Since Cheryl began her renewed battle with asthma, she has come to realize that she is not alone in her struggle. "Each day, I notice adults in business suits puffing on their rescue inhalers as they breathe Atlanta's sub-par air," Cheryl explains. "I see asthmatic children sitting on the sidelines at my neighborhood basketball court, because their moms won't let them play." In fact, 11 percent of Georgia's children have asthma. In total, these children miss 540,000 days of school a year and cause their parents to miss 390,000 days of work or school.3 Even though air quality has improved in many regions of the country since the Clean Air Act was enacted three decades ago, 159 million Americans continue to breathe dirty, unhealthy air.4 In Georgia, more than 1.7 million children and older adults are at risk from air pollution.5 Asthma has emerged as a national epidemic. From 1980 to 1996 the prevalence of asthma among Americans increased by nearly 74 percent.6 By 2001, more than 31 million people had been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, and 12 million Americans (including 4.2 million children) suffered an asthma attack sometime during the previous year.7 Thirty years of progressively cleaner air shows that we have the know-how to reduce pollution. But by consistently siding with the coal and utility industries, the Bush administration is putting polluters' profits ahead of people's health. There is a better way. We must better enforce the law, hold polluters accountable, and require them to use today's best technology to protect our health and safety. Cheryl is disappointed when Atlanta's bad air prevents her from training for her next marathon, but even her gardening is affected when she can't be outdoors because of high levels of air pollution. Like many other asthma suffers in Atlanta, Cheryl wants the Bush administration to start forcing power plants and factories to clean up their acts. Her hope is that one day soon, Atlanta residents will again be able to enjoy the summertime outdoors without suffering from asthma attacks and the other effects of unacceptable air. For more information contact:
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