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All Documents in Health Tagged air pollution

U.S. Latinos and Air Pollution
A Call to Action
Report

Air pollutants surround us wherever we are. On a daily basis, we are exposed to carbon, lead, nitrogen oxides, ozone, soot, and hundreds of other air pollutants emitted from our cars, factories, power plants, and heavy machinery. At certain levels, many of these pollutants become highly harmful to human health, and Latinos are especially vulnerable because they live in regions with the worst air contamination.

Gasping for Air: Toxic Pollutants Continue to Make Millions Sick and Shorten Lives
Fact Sheet

Forty years of Clean Air Act programs have brought steady and life-saving improvements to our air quality. Despite this important progress, however, many fossil fuel power plants, boilers, and cement plants continue to treat our skies like sewers. From soot to toxic heavy metals, dirty coal and fossil fuel smoke stacks emit vast quantities of dangerous pollutants that are well known to cause disease and death. The total cost of these health impacts is more than $100 billion per year. Until stronger standards to reduce toxic emissions from coal and fossil fuel burning industries are implemented, harmful toxic chemicals will continue to be released into the air of our communities, threatening public health. Get document in pdf.

Get the Lead Out
Guide

Children across the nation face the risk of lead poisoning, but steps can be taken to protect them.

Boosting the Benefits
Improving Air Quality and Health by Reducing Global Warming Pollution in California
Issue Paper

California has the opportunity to combat global warming while simultaneously improving air quality and public health throughout the state. Measures being considered under the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) could save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of other negative health impacts each year -- saving billions of dollars in healthcare costs.

Driving on Fumes
Truck Drivers Face Elevated Health Risks from Diesel Pollution
Issue Paper

Diesel pollution is well known to be hazardous to human health. Groups at particular risk include workers in diesel industries, such as trucking and rail, and communities located near major sources of diesel pollution, such as ports and freeways. This December 2007 issue paper summarizes the alarming findings of one of the first investigations to measure drivers' exposure levels to diesel soot inside trucks serving our nation's ports.

Sneezing and Wheezing
How Global Warming Could Increase Ragweed Allergies, Air Pollution and Asthma
Issue Paper

Global warming isn't just making our planet hotter. Scientific studies have also shown that our changing climate could mean more ozone pollution in some areas, intensifying health problems stemming from allergenic pollen such as ragweed. NRDC research, the first to map areas within the United States where ragweed and unhealthy ozone pollution overlap, shows that 110 million Americans live in areas with both ragweed and ozone problems.

Coal Is Hazardous to Your Health
Coal-fired power plants threaten the environment and your health.
Index

Burning coal releases enormous amounts of harmful pollutants into the air and water, with serious health consequences. Waste generated by coal-fired power plants contains hazardous pollutants that can contaminate our drinking water and cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems. This index of fact sheets describes the health hazards of our continued reliance on coal.

Lost and Found: Missing Mercury from Chemical Plants Pollutes Air and Water
Issue Paper

Mercury is an invisible, odorless poison that can pollute oceans and rivers, contaminate our food and seep into the air, potentially causing severe health problems when ingested by humans. A major source of this pollution is chlor-alkali chemical manufacturing plants. Not only do these plants release harmful mercury into the environment, but they also cannot account for tons of mercury "lost" each year, which likely ends up in the air we breathe.

Five Dangerous Pollutants in the Air You Breathe
NRDC's least wanted list of air pollutants, and the best ways to avoid them.
Overview

Much of the haze that once blanketed our cities has cleared since the 1970s, thanks to tough environmental laws. But air pollution, including the kind you can’t see, still poses health risks to millions of Americans.

Asthma and Air Pollution
Bad air can bring on asthma attacks, even in healthy people; tracking air quality and controlling pollution from cars, factories and power plants can help.
Overview

Bad air can bring on asthma attacks, even in healthy people; tracking air quality and controlling pollution from cars, factories and power plants can help.

Heat Advisory
How Global Warming Causes More Bad Air Days
Report

Comprehensive analysis by medical experts showing that global warming would cause more summertime smog and higher pollen levels, which in turn might bring more asthma attacks, more hospitalizations, and limitations on time outdoors.

How to Protect Your Children from Environmental Risks
Pollution-related illnesses may be on the rise, but there are things parents can do.
Guide

Pollution-related illnesses are on the rise, increasing concerns about the role environmental toxins might play in diseases, especially in children, as rates of asthma and childhood cancers increase. There are steps you can take to protect your children from the five worst environmental threats to their health: lead, air pollution, pesticides, environmental tobacco smoke, and drinking water contamination.

Our Children At Risk
The Five Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health
Report

A report identifying the special vulnerability of children to environmental hazards and highlighting the growing evidence pointing to a link between pollution and childhood illnesses. The report makes recommendations, at both the policy and personal levels, for the protection of the next generation.

Breath-taking
Premature Mortality Due to Particulate Air Pollution in 239 American Cities
Report

Excerpts from a groundbreaking May 1996 NRDC report on premature mortality due to particulate air pollution in 239 American cities.

For additional policy documents, see the NRDC Document Bank.
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