Despite the predictions of the junk science mob and despite air as bad as in China or India. But as JunkScience has long argued.
From the Seattle Times:
Ozone triggers lying not asthma. Same is true for particulate matter from smoke/exhaust.
Despite the predictions of the junk science mob and despite air as bad as in China or India. But as JunkScience has long argued.
From the Seattle Times:
Ozone triggers lying not asthma. Same is true for particulate matter from smoke/exhaust.
@Carl
Sadly, I am one of the folks pushing for sarcasm tags. Without the [psst] part of your note, my sarcasm meter was dancing between yes and no.
@Goluscombe — Things are much better without excessive pollution. The death toll was not insignificant in England when coal was used unfiltered in stoves everywhere. They quite literally had killing fogs. We can say that pollution is bad based on this, but at the same time, we can’t freak out when something exists in our environment that we want to not be there just because.
Check the body bags. Most of them are empty.
Let me broaden Goluscombe’s challenge –
If someone has verifiable, objective proof that ANYTHING is not harmful, I’d like to see it.
Until something is verifiably, objectively proven to not cause any harm, it should be assumed harmful. And subject to lawsuits, government regulation, social scorn, etc.
[psst – scientifically literate folks get the joke.]
Guys, asthma and other respiratory ailments are well-known. Go to the AMA, the American Medical Association to learn more. I would imagine that symptoms develop on the intensity, duration and age and general health of the person.
Don’t dismiss the concerns of air pollution. I don’t know of many people who died of lung cancer from smoking cigarets for a week, but I know my father died from 50 years of smoking and it wasn’t pretty.
If someone has verifiable, objective proof that pollution is not harmful, I’d like to see it.
We have looked at forest fire air over LA. Satellite pictures. We see PM2.5 increase. We see no effect on acute mortality.
Ever since malaria was shown to be caused by mosquito bites and not ‘bad air’, people have been trying to find *something* that they could blame on it.
I live in the Seattle area. Yeah, the air stinks and looks awful–but otherwise this media campaign to scare even the HEALTHY among us has fallen flat.
Funny how the Seattle Times seems to attribute the far lower than anticipated asthma patient admissions to a human ability to cope with unhealthy air.
So either we get sick, or we just cope? The media folks really ARE science duds, aren’t they?