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New York City Air Quality Among Worst in Country; American Lung Association Campaigns Against Bush Administration Environmental Policy

You’re standing on the West Side Highway, about to begin your run around the island and you catch a face full of truck exhaust.  Do you ever wonder what the air quality in the City does to your health?  Is it even worth it to exercise outside when the air quality is poor?  What can you do about it?

Staff Report

April 29th, 2004

The American Lung Association (ALA) released a report on the nation’s air quality this week in a move to protect the public health that has a decidedly political tone.  According to the report, New York ranks 22^nd on a list of most particle-polluted counties and 13^th on a list of worst ozone-polluted metropolitan areas.  In addition to calling for awareness of daily air quality variations before exercising outdoors, the ALA is calling for political action from the country’s citizens.

In 2003, the ALA filed suit against the EPA in federal court to stop rollbacks of the Clean Air Act implemented by the Bush Administration.    John L. Kirkwood, American Lung Association President and Chief Executive Officer, exclaimed in a statement,   “Americans need to know about unhealthy air pollution in their communities.  The threat may be invisible to the human eye, but it is real – and it can kill.   This is why the American Lung Association is fighting hard to protect tools in the Clean Air Act that can clean up the pollution – a tool that the Administration has taken steps to roll back.”

The ALA is urging Americans to contact their politicians to oppose rollbacks to the Clean Air Act, which they feel will increase ozone and particle pollution across the country.  They also suggest that you check the air quality forecast in your community before planning on exercising outside. 

Check the daily air quality index for New York City at the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation website.

According to the report, ozone and fine-particle pollution leads to heart attacks, asthma, chronic lung disease, strokes, lung cancer and other health problems.  The report confirms the fact that individual and community health cannot be separated from the surrounding economic and political landscape.  If you want to exercise outside and actually improve your health, you are going to have to get involved in the political battle over energy production. 

State of the Air: 2004. American Lung Association.

New York State Air Quality Index. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.