Pollution

The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York received a $100,000 federal grant to take control of air pollution in the town of Tonawanda, NY, reports the Buffalo News. Funding comes from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program.

"We clearly know that Tonawanda has an air pollution issue," Erin Heaney, executive director of the coalition told the news source.

According to the EPA, Tonawanda features some of the highest concentration of air-regulated facilities in the state. Homeowners in the region should install air purifiers in their homes to reduce exposure to airborne toxins. The grant from the EPA provides just enough to research the troubling air quality levels. Heaney claimed were present in the community such as five pollutants that exceed state health guidelines, reports the news source.

The IQAir HealthPro Plus HEPA Air Purifiers provide excellent filtration to reduce toxin levels in the home - limiting homeowners and their families' exposure to potential danger.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urged the U.S. Appeals Court in Washington to uphold the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, reports Bloomberg. The EPA regulation, which imposed caps on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in 27 states, was put on hold by the court in December after more than three dozen lawsuits were filed to challenge the rule.

"The transport rule represents the culmination of decades of congressional, administrative and judicial efforts to fashion a workable, comprehensive regulatory approach to interstate air pollution issues that have huge public health implications," the 116-page filing states, according to the news source. 

A medical grade home air purifier can provide peace of mind by limiting exposure to harmful air pollutants. While the new regulation is under review by the courts, homeowners are stuck breathing in smog filled with nitrogen oxide.

Emissions are crossing state lines and spreading. Homeowners worried over the potential negative health effects of breathing in toxic chemicals should consider the benefit of a home air purifier such as the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier.

GenOn Energy’s Potomac River Generating Station, a coal-burning power plant in Alexandria, Virginia, is scheduled to close in October. The plant was fined for $280,700 for violating air-quality laws by exceeding nitrogen oxide limits six times between June 28 and July 18 last year, reports the Washington Post.

The plant began operation in 1949 and has faced years of opposition from both local residents and environmentalists, according to the news source.

Increased levels of air pollution can lead to a variety of health problems, including aggravating respiratory conditions, asthma and increasing levels of stroke and heart attack. Homeowners in the area can install a medical-grade home air purifier such as IQAir HealthPro Plus HEPA Air Purifiers to limit their prolonged indoor exposure to toxins produced by nearby power plants. Air pollution can remain in the region for a long time, and once those fine particulates get in a home it may be hard to remove them for years to come because fabric and other materials absorb them.

Investing in a home air purifier can reduce the presence of toxins in the home, which can potentially increase residents’ health, decrease their chance of getting ill and reduce respiratory aggravators that can become a problem for those with asthma, bronchitis or even the everyday cold.

Recent research from Nurses' Health Study links air pollution to a decline in the cognitive skills of older women, reports Nurse.com. The study evaluated coarse and fine pollution in relation to cognitive decline in women using a study population from the Nurses's Health Study Cognitive Cohort.

The study included 19,409 women between the ages of 70 and 81 in the United States.

"In this large, prospective study of older women, higher levels of long-term exposure to both [coarse and fine particulate matter] were associated with significantly faster cognitive decline," the researchers wrote in an issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, reports Nurse.com.

Homeowners concerned over their health should invest in a medical-grade home air purifier to reduce exposure to both coarse and fine particulates. Individuals should be aware and consider their options as more and more studies come out suggesting the negative health impact of breathing in pollution.

A home air purifier can improve the air quality within the space most people spend the majority of their time - the home - and therefore decrease the time spent breathing in toxins.

A Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center research team has found that air pollution levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) may substantially increase the risk of stroke.

"This is a significant study because we have documentation that the risk of stroke can be elevated when the air quality is still within the guidelines set by the current EPA regulations," Dr. Murray A. Mittleman, an author of the study who teaches at Harvard Medical School and works in the CardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess, told Boston.com. "This implies that the current regulations can be strengthened further to prevent these catastrophic health events."

Homeowners should consider investing in a medical-grade home air purifier to decrease his or her risk of exposure to air pollution that can lead to medical conditions. Researchers reviewed the medical records of 1,700 stroke patients in the Boston area over the course of 10 years. They found a 34 percent increase in the risk of ischemic stroke on days with moderate air quality in comparison to those rated good by the EPA.

A study such as this further increases the tie between poor air quality and a negative health impact.

According to National Geographic and MSNBC.com, California is home to five of the nation’s most polluted cities in the country. Air pollution is rampart in the ocean-side state.

Regular exposure to air pollution can eventually lead to respiratory diseases, asthma and reduced lung function, especially in children, infants and the elderly. It may also be a contributing factor to heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

Homeowners wishing to decrease their exposure to these harmful toxins should invest in a home air purifier like the IQAir HealthPro Plus. For those living in California, the purchase may be more than a precautionary measure.

According to National Geographic, these five California cities experienced some of the smoggiest days in 2010, which had officials declaring a number of red alert days in response. Riverside-San Bernadino, CA, at number one, experienced 110 days of smog and 24 red alert days for unhealthy levels of air pollution.

Purchasing a home air purifier can significantly decrease indoor exposure to poor air quality.

A new study published by the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggests that exposure to air pollution can cause changes in children and young adults that are similar to those seen in Alzheimer's patients, according to Environmental Health News.

The disturbing correlation between a disease typically seen in the elderly appearing in the brains of children has scientists working to determine how poor air quality can affect the brain.

Conducted in Mexico City, an area notorious for its high levels of air pollution, North American researchers studied the postmortem brains of children and young adults who had suffered accidents, reported Environmental Health News. More than half of the participants examined were younger than 17.

Air pollution is not limited by borders and can spread out to surrounding areas. San Antonio, Texas, is less than 1,000 miles from Mexico City, for example. Investing in a home air purifier can reduce toxin exposure by improving air quality within the home or office environment.

This study builds upon growing research that suggests links between air pollution and brain function. A previous study has found links between air pollution exposure and inflammation, which commonly occurs and is indicative of injury in dog and mice brains. Air pollution may have lasting effects and individuals may wish to do as much as they can to reduce their exposure to these types of toxins.

The New York State Environmental Law (ECL) prohibits heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and buses from idling for more than five minutes at a time. Additions were later made to the law to include passenger vehicles as well.

By 2009, the city passed stricter regulations and allowed drivers only one minute to turn off their engines if they were across the street from a school. The law was passed to improve New York City's air quality by decreasing the production of toxic tailpipe fumes as asthma development in city children rose above national levels.

However, both CNN and NewYorkCBSlocal report a lack of enforcement of the law, leading to even greater air pollution levels. Schools may wish to invest in an IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier to reduce toxin levels within the building.

According to CBSNewYork, the NYPD issued 2,210 tickets for idling in Manhattan last year, of which 66 were issued in Queens, 34 in Brooklyn and just 12 in the Bronx.

"When NYPD wants to enforce the law, it enforces the law… it’s been pretty clear, if you look at the data…12 tickets across the whole Bronx in a year? They’re not enforcing the law," Rich Kassal of the Natural Resources Defense Council told the news source.

Residents of Brevard County, a place fondly referred to as the Space Coast, can now breathe a sigh of relief. In the most recent data released from the federal Toxics Release Inventory, toxic air pollution in Brevard County has dropped almost 90 percent, according to Florida Today.

"You can really see a big drop from 2007 to 2010," Caroline Shine, administrator of the air resources management program for Florida Department of Environmental Protection central district in Orlando, told the news source.

The drop in air pollution levels is attributed to a variety of factors. However, officials caution residents that the new figures are not indicative of a decrease in health risk. Investing in a home air purifier could assist in decreasing prolonged exposure to toxins in the air.

Efforts to decrease pollution began with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection creating regulations for local businesses, inspecting them and then allowing the potential fines accrued to be spent on upgrading the business or pollution prevention projects. The closing of the Florida Power & Light Co. power plant for a cleaner new gas plant and a decrease in luxury boat manufacturing has contributed heavily to the new increase in air quality.

A settlement between environmental groups and Duke Energy will cut pollution out gradually by phasing out over 1,600 mega watts of an outdated, dirty coal-fired power plant.

Under the terms, Duke Energy will slowly retire old coal-powered units that lack modern pollution control technology while meeting customer energy demands. The timeline for retirement is enforceable, thereby ensuring that improvements in air and water quality will be made. However, it will be years before all the changes are made. For homes surrounded by out-dated coal-burning plants, a home air purifier could improve indoor air quality.

"This settlement phases out some of the oldest, dirtiest and most inefficient coal plants in the Carolinas," John Suttles, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represented the groups in court, told the media. "In addition to protecting people's health and saving lives, it also will save ratepayers' money by paving the way for a more efficient and sustainable energy future."

Presently, only the Duke Energy's Cliffside power plant near Shelby, North Carolina, operates under the new strict acid gas controls, with a 99.9 percent reduction in air pollution.