Map of age-adjusted incidence of stroke deaths due to air pollution in U.S. (From Eos: Space & Science News, p. 5, April, 2019)
'
The blaring WSJ headline ('Heart Disease Roars Back', p. A1, June 22-23) noted how life expectancy is being adversely affected for middle age Americans, largely because of increased cardiac deaths. This was traced to pervasive obesity and overweight, noting 40 percent of Americans over 20 are now obese (BMI > 30) and another 32 percent overweight.
But another article ('Stroke Deaths Rise, Life Expectancy Falls With Polluted Air', Eos: Space & Science News,)may be telling another less known side of the story. That is that "people living im regions with a high level of fine-grained air pollutants have shorter life expectancies and increased incidence of stroke."
Among the prime culprits which hasn't received a lot of media attention is a category of fine -scale particulates denoted PM 2, 5 - a main cause of hazy or smog-filled air.. According to the Eos paper, researcher Longjian Liu - an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at Drexel University - found that 51 percent of the counties surveyed (see map) had annual average PM 2, 5 levels that exceeded the EPA's air quality standard limit (12 micrograms per cubic meter). The graphic below gives an idea about the scale of these particles:
And the genesis of these particles?
"Fine particles (PM2.5) are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller, and can only be seen with an electron microscope. Fine particles are produced from all types of combustion, including motor vehicles, power plants, residential wood burning, forest fires, agricultural burning, and some industrial processes"
Liu's team gathered county data on reported stroke occurrence, overall life expectancy, poverty rate, rural population percentage as well as the number of primary care physicians per 1,000 residents from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When the researchers compared PM 2, 5 levels with health and demographic data they found that higher annual levels of PM 2, 5 were significantly correlated with both stroke mortality rate and life expectancy in men and women.
In other words, those populations that breathe polluted air experience higher rates of death from stroke and have shorter life expectancies. Interestingly, the devastating effects of poor air quaity hit hardest in counties with a higher percentage of people living below the poverty line - and with fewer physicians per capita.
When the team mapped out which regions experienced the strongest effects, it found those living in southern states had the highest rates of stroke deaths and the lowest life expectancies due to high PM 2, 5 levels, followed by those living in the midwest.
Following on the heels of the Liu team findings in Eos, The Denver Post highlighted the broader picture of how air quality is eroding (again through an increase in PM 2, 5) throughout the nation ('Air Quality Slipping In The U.S.', June 20, p. 21 A), noting:
"Over the last two years, the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows....There were 15 percent more days with unhealthy air in America both last year and the year before than there were on average from 2013 through 2016, when the fewest number of days were recorded since 1980."
In other words, since the advent of the Trump infestation and its attendant swamp creatures, i.e. in the EPA, air pollution has significantly increased, as health has deteriorated. Also no surprise that the Liar-in Chief claimed the opposite, as the article goes on to note. When Trump - in the UK earlier this month bragged: "We have the cleanest air in the world in the United States and it's gotten better since I'm president."
Well, yeah, and if you believe that you will also believe Trump is the greatest president since George Washington, as opposed to the most derelict maggot ever to foul the White House. Not to mention who lies like he breathes. And we can thank the contributors to the Post's AP article for skewering his malarkey (ibid.):
"There were noticeably more polluted air days each year in Trump's first two years in office than any of the four years before "
Adding:
"Five hundred and thirty -two American metro areas reported a total of 4, 134 days in 2018 when the official air quality index passed 100, which means it became unhealthy for people with heart and lung disease, the elderly and the very young.....the worst of the bad air days jumped even more. On average in 2017 and 2018 there were nearly 140 times when a city's air pollution reached the worst two categories: 'very unhealthy' and 'hazardous'"
So Trump's occupation of the seat of power has not only poisoned our mental health but our physical health as well.
The aggregate fouling of our atmosphere - thanks to the Trumpkins lowering standards and regulations - has spawned a blight not seen for decades. Not only novel pollutants like PM 2, 5 but SO 2 and mercury from coal -fired plants - and more to come after Trump's EPA rolling back rules governing emissions (e.g. ('EPA Rescinds Obama Power Plant Rules', WSJ, June 20, p. A4).
EPA inspections alone have plunged from 21, 300 per yr. at the height of Obama's tenure, to only 10, 600 last year- owing to staffing cuts. (WSJ, 'Trump Pulls Back Rules Enforcement', p. A4, today). As one soon-to-be downsized EPA scientist (Felicia Clarke) was quoted in the piece: "We're giving a green light to bad actors."
For those seriously considering putting Trump back into office again for 4 more years, think of whether your lung - or heart - will be able to tolerate this imp's deregulation, even if you want no part of "socialism". And what about your kids' lungs, and health? Is it really worth a marginal 401(k) gain to enable the Trump retinue of rats to have a 4-yr. replay?
The tally of our poisoned air says 'no' even as our poisoned minds may no longer be able to discern the full spectrum of Trump's toxins.
No comments:
Post a Comment