Groups say asthma cases will rise if EPA rules blocked

[Bravo Zulu]

"Congress is negotiating with the White House to continue funding the federal government with a new spending measure, onto which some members of Congress hope to attach EPA-blocking 'riders' that would also prevent the agency from reducing pollution," the release states.

Air pollution, including smog, ozone and particulate pollution, can cause asthma and trigger attacks. Already asthma has major health impacts on Americans, with a particular impact on children:

• More than 688,000 children visited emergency rooms because of asthma in 2008.

• Lost school days from asthma in 2008 totaled 10.5 million, with lost work days for adults totaling more than 14 million days.

• Asthma was responsible for nearly 2 million emergency room visits in 2007, with 3,400 people dying from asthma in 2007.

The release said current EPA rules prevent 1.7 million cases of asthma exacerbation and by 2020 would prevent 2.4 million cases.

"By blocking the EPA from making additional needed updates today, federal lawmakers would be allowing increases in soot, smog, carbon, and other air pollution that would cause asthma incidence to increase," the study concludes. "The cost of these additional cases would also increase the taxpayer bill and could lead to an increase in private insurance costs as well as increases out-of-pocket expenses."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11096/1137427-84.stm#ixzz1InHRg4ca