Are They Holding Your Breath Hostage?


If you're winded after a friendly one-on-one basketball game or from intermittent high-intensity striding while walking, your best bet for a quick recovery is to bend over and put your hands on your knees Michael-Jordan style (he often did it when another player had a free throw). Research shows that it very quickly drops your heart rate by 22 beats a minute.

If only it were that easy to regain your breath from the damaging effect of air pollution. With the rollback of 16 air-quality standards and nine more in the works (as of December 2019), it's time to look at a whole slew of new studies that show why that's a very costly set of moves in terms of public health and is penny wise and pound foolish for the U.S. economy.

What's going back into the air and your lungs? So far there's been cancellation of the requirement for oil and gas companies to report methane emissions; gutting the Clean Power Plan's strict limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants so states can set their own rules; loosening a longstanding rule designed to limit toxic emissions from major industrial polluters; amending of rules governing how refineries monitor pollution in surrounding communities ... you get the drift.

What are the results? All those rollbacks are in direct opposition to the progress that was being made. A study in American Economic Review found that the reduction in fine particulate matter pollution that happened from 1999-2013 resulted in fewer pollution-related deaths among older Americans, and that meant less expenditure on health care and medical costs to the tune of $24 billion annually.

Those gains are easily wiped out: A 2019 Harvard study of folks 65+ published in BMJ found that even small increases in short-term exposure to particulate matter caused an annual increase of 5,692 hospitalizations, 32,314 days in the hospital, and 634 deaths, adding up to $100 million annual inpatient and post-acute care costs, and $6.5 billion lost because of the deaths of those people. The researchers also linked air pollution to serious bloodstream, skin and tissue infections, fluid and electrolyte disorders, renal failure and urinary tract infections.

But it's not just older folks who suffer. Another recent study published in Plos One found that when 1-year-olds are exposed to traffic-related pollution, they suffer irreversible reduction of gray matter volume and loss of cortical thickness that can be seen in brain scans 12 years later! That can impact muscle control, sensory perception, memory, emotions, speech, decision making and self-control.

More info on the hazards. A study in Environmental Science & Technology Letters shows that exposure to very fine particulate matter from environmental pollution can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause a range of cardiovascular problems. Another in JAMA Open finds that fine particulate pollution is linked to osteoporosis. And a U.K. study found that people living in the most polluted areas are 6% more likely to develop glaucoma than those in the least polluted zones. Plus Health and Human Services concludes that traffic-related air pollution measurably increases the risk for pregnancy-related high blood pressure, which can cause miscarriage or serious post-birth problems for baby and mother.

Your move. The best way to reduce air pollution and its health risks is to have regulations in place that are science-based and encourage innovative solutions for industry and agriculture. So let your federal and state representatives know what's on your mind.

Closer to home, avoid exercising around heavily traveled roadways. Use a HEPA air filter in rooms where you spend a lot of time. Also, mulch, don't burn, garden refuse. Avoid all first-, second- and thirdhand smoke and nicotine residue. If you have a wood stove, avoid green woods and consider switching to a pellet stove. Pay attention to maintenance schedules for your vehicles. Consider exercising in the gym or at home on pollution-alert days. If you have a choice, opt to live at least seven blocks from a highway.

©2020 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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