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EPA HIGHLIGHTS AWARENESS OF WORLD ASTHMA DAY
Release Date: 04/26/2000
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FOR RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2000
EPA HIGHLIGHTS AWARENESS OF WORLD ASTHMA DAY
May 3 is designated as World Asthma Day to raise awareness about asthma and its causes. EPA is working to improve information on the indoor and outdoor pollutants that contribute to asthma. Some key indoor pollutants are second-hand smoke, pet dander, dust mites, cockroaches and molds. Outdoors, ground-level ozone known as smog can irritate the respiratory system, reduce lung function, inflame and damage the lining of the lung, and aggravate asthma. Children and asthmatics are the most susceptible to ground-level ozone, but when levels are very high, everyone should be concerned. In most areas of the U.S., smog season extends from May 1 to Sept. 30, the months when heat and sunlight react with pollutants to form ground-level ozone. There are a number of ways to check ozone levels in your community:
! EPA’s animated Ozone Mapping Project resumes operation May 1, with 100 cities in 32 states participating in EPA’s ozone forecasting web site. Forecasts will be posted by 4:15 p.m. each day at: www.epa.gov/airnow.
! On May 2, 3 and 4, tune your computer to a web broadcast “Breathing with Asthma: An Environmental Perspective.” Instructions for viewing this broadcast on EPA’s Air Pollution Distance Learning Network are found at: www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/eog/schedule.html#T-0007/. This broadcast will feature researchers, medical professionals and outreach specialists. The three segments contain information that will be particularly useful to regulators, public health officials, healthcare providers and teachers.
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