However, and pollution and asthma studies focus more on the ozone that forms at ground level, most of which is caused by vehicle emissions.

Power plants, industry, and car and truck pollutants combine with the sun at or near ground level to combust into a harmful pollutant that affects the eyes, lungs, and in some cases, the ability to go outside and enjoy a warm and sunny day.

This ozone is a heavy toxin and it can affect even a healthy lung. Thus, those with asthma are more susceptible to the damaging effects of air pollution.

Sunny climates and warm areas that are heavily populated are prone to smog, a condition caused by the overload of pollutants within the ground level ozone. The warmer and sunnier a specific climate is the higher the concentration of ground level ozone.

Thus, children and the elderly with lung conditions that live in these areas need to be especially careful of how air pollution and asthma are interrelated. Smog has been known to cause asthma attacks in people who have no history of asthma.

Children are highly likely to be affected by air pollution because their lungs are still developing. Additionally, their faster respiratory rates encourage their bodies to take in more of the harmful pollutants per minute than older individuals.

Finally, children are more likely to spend a great deal of time outside playing, which increases their exposure. In the United States, over 3 million asthmatic children live and play in locations which have already been deemed a high ozone pollutant area in the summer months and 1.5 million asthmatic children live in a high ozone pollutant area all year long.

These pollutants are known to irritate healthy lungs, thus those who are already developing a difficult respiratory competence are much more likely to struggle with chronic attacks on the lungs. Some studies have linked air pollution and asthma to the onset of adult lung cancer.

Air pollution and high ozone pollutants are so distressing to an asthmatic because the effects of the pollutants are pretty much the same as the asthma. When you have an asthma attack, the lining of the lungs becomes irritated and inflamed, causing the lung function to decrease and make it difficult for the appropriate amount of oxygen to reach the body.

Ozone pollutants and air pollution does the same thing to a healthy lung. As the pollutants enter the lungs the irritated lung then swells, so to speak. From there the inflammation presents the lung with a difficult oxygenation period, which is identical to an asthma attack.

The areas that are marked by increased ground level ozone pollution are seeing an additionally marked increase in asthmatic diagnoses every year. There is a directly between the intensity of the air pollution and asthma cases that are developed in the area. This is most common in children, smokers, and those who work in high risk industries such as shipyards.

While the ultimate answer for the pollution and asthma link is to decrease the ozone pollutants and develop a stronger air protection program. However, while these plans are not in effect as of yet, it is important that people with the potential risk for asthma related illness keep a daily eye on the Air Quality Index.

The Air Quality Index measures numerous variables in the air, including ground level ozone, and rates these findings on a color coded scale. Each day there can be a difference in the findings between the morning hours, the afternoon hours, and the evening hours.

A green day means that the air quality is good. Purple and maroon levels are dangerous for those with asthma. Yellow and orange days indicate that there may be some problems but that in most cases, the air quality is not dangerous.

Everyone needs to pitch and help decrease the elements that create ground level ozone as we all need to be responsible for decreasing the atmospheric ozone layer destruction. Our actions and inactions have a direct impact on whether children with asthma will be spending their summer indoors or whether they will have the freedom to run around and play with their friends.

The more you become educated about air pollution and asthma the more you will understand the significance of creating a cleaner breathing environment for everyone.

The main air pollution facts that citizens of the world need to pay attention to are startling when you consider the health impact that air pollution causes. There are many sources that cite the same information, and the information is frightening.

Air pollution has gotten so out of control that people who live in just about any large city run a higher risk of contracting illnesses and experiencing health problems from the air than if they lived in Chernobyl, where radiation was once at its peak and killed people for miles around.

This type of air pollution is caused by everything from major manufacturing plants to the cars we drive to the recycling methods used with plastics.

Over the 20 years or so, air pollution effects on the health have been studied on residents of Los Angeles.

These studies reveal that the air pollution is dangerous enough to cause serious health problems including cardiac restriction. Jogging in any major city near heavy traffic patterns is likely to cause a cardiac arrhythmia and lung problems.

More heart attacks have been reported while jogging in the city, triggered by air pollution problems which are known to cause a restricted ability to provide the heart with well oxygenated blood. Respiratory illness is up, cardiac illness has increased, and premature deaths have totaled an annual 2 million deaths thanks to the health threat posed by air pollution.

As a society we tend to overlook the air pollution problems and causes because unless the pollution is bad enough to see smog, air pollution can’t be seen, felt, and rarely smelled. It is a silent, invisible health risk that receives little media attention. Once the smog problems of California started receiving attention, many ecological groups turned their attention to water pollution and tree conservation.

While deforestation actual helps to increase the effects of air pollution since there is less clean oxygen in the air, attention needs to be given to the air pollution that every major city world wide faces on a daily basis.

Industry is by far the biggest and most aggressive pollutant source on the planet, although the African tradition of burning old unusable electronics certainly isn’t helping. While city and county wide recycling seems like a good idea on the surface, almost all cities burn the plastics left out in the blue containers, releasing toxic pollutants into the air. In order for recycling to be effective it can’t destroy the air quality at the same time.

The destruction of the ozone layer that culminated to a very fierce point in the early nineties still needs attention as the destruction of the ozone layer adds to the air quality issues.

Perhaps as a civilization, the chronic display of air quality meters displayed on weather reports should let us know that we have a serious problem on our hands. Exhaust fumes from cars, trucks, and tractor trailers have the potential to pollute the air ten to fifteen times more in one day than a week’s worth of CFC releasing air conditioners, which have finally been outlawed.

The more we insist on using older cars which release a higher degree of carbons, the more we use those old air conditioners with CFC releasing potential, and the more we take the air’s overall cleanliness for granted, the more people and wild life will die early thanks to unbreathable air quality.

The more air pollution facts that the general public gathers, the more they can see the tenable situation that the world’s air is truly in, and appropriate action can be taken in order to help clean up the air we put into our lungs and the lungs of our children.