Asthma and Air Pollutant Health Effects
By Jan Dye
As health effects researchers within EPA’s Office of Research and Development, my colleagues and I use a range of approaches to assess the respiratory toxicity of air pollutants. Because May is Asthma Awareness Month, this week’s It All Starts with Science blogs will focus on research relating to those populations who may be most susceptible (or vulnerable) to air pollution, including asthmatics.
To investigate links between air pollution exposure and specific adverse health effects, my colleagues and I study what is in the air (e.g., the level, type, and combination of air pollutants present) and who is breathing the air. This is important because not everyone responds to air pollution in the same manner or to the same extent.
Importantly, the Clean Air Act mandates that EPA set air pollution standards to protect these most vulnerable or “at risk” persons.
Epidemiologic studies—studies involving a large segment of the population—indicate that air pollutants can affect lung development and function, and other pathologic airway changes commonly occurring in asthmatics.
My EPA colleagues and our partners try, therefore, to assess which agents or “triggers” in the outdoor or indoor air are most likely to be problematic for asthmatics. Our studies are providing the biologic evidence to support the associations found in epidemiologic reports.
In keeping with Asthma Awareness Month, please return to this blog site throughout the week and the rest of May, and in the months that follow, to learn how EPA scientists are investigating links between asthma (and related respiratory disease) with exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution and pollutant mixtures, including near-road air pollutants.
EPA researchers will also blog about how indoor allergens (e.g., molds), sensitizing chemicals (e.g., platinum), and novel agents (e.g., biofuels) may relate to asthma. You can also read about scientists who are using innovative approaches to understand how climate change (e.g., heat stress, increased allergen blooms) ─ often occurring in combination with increasing exposure to environmental agents (e.g., wildfires) ─ may disproportionately impact these “at risk” populations.
Please stay tuned.
About the author: Dr. Jan Dye is a health effects researcher in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. She is a Project Lead for the Air, Climate, and Energy program’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards and Multipollutant Project on susceptibility to air pollutants.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Let There Be Pollute (?).-
It seems The Pollutesystem rose it from bottom to up through beyond after BC. Please, look the new room would be pollute soon by spider and debris without the human acts. But this EPA’s research most important for the global environment that left behind at decades. We must have lived like hyacinth who live strong in the water…..
Air pollution is a harsh consequence of industrial growth across the country and world. It is crucial to understand the collective impacts of multiple air pollutants, how they interact in the atmosphere and whether the interactions modify health effects. There is a seemly large increase in child asthmatics roughly 60% increase since 1980, probably a complicated mixture of genetic and environmental changes. Studies have shown such things as ozone, sulfur oxides, and chlorine in pools can affect asthma attacks. Indoor triggers include cockroaches, dust mites, furry pets, mold, tobacco smoke, and some chemicals. Carbon monoxide exhaust, diesel fumes, and soot also impact asthma. I think it is fantastic that you and your colleagues are investigating links between air pollution exposure and specific adverse health effects. meetings supports asthma awareness month.