Articles Tagged with ''air pollution''

People with heart disease should check the daily Air Quality Index forecast and avoid exercising out of doors on bad air quality days, according to the EPA, which has issued a new Public Service Announcement (PSA) to educate the public and healthcare providers about the risks of air pollution to the heart.

Total releases of toxic chemicals decreased 12 percent from 2011-2012, according to the EPA’s annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report released this week. The decrease includes an eight percent decline in total toxic air releases, primarily due to reductions in hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions.

Ozone is a gas that you cannot see or smell. Ozone occurs naturally in the sky about 10 to 30 miles above the earth's surface. Sometimes, this ozone is called "good ozone" because it forms a layer that protects life on earth from the sun's harmful rays. Ground-level ozone, on the other hand, can be bad for your health and the environment.

Particle pollution, or particulate matter, consists of particles that are in the air, including dust, dirt, soot and smoke, and little drops of liquid. Some particles, such as soot or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen. Other particles are so small that you cannot see them.

Twenty-five million children in the U.S. ride the bus to and from school, spending an average of an hour and a half on a bus each day. Depending on the design of your child’s bus, it could be emitting harmful particles.

Want a say in the EPA’s carbon pollution rulemaking? You can attend and speak out at one of 11 “public listening sessions” the agency will hold across the country to solicit ideas and input from the public and stakeholders about the best Clean Air Act approaches to reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants.

The government shutdown’s potential affect on public health, Academy Awards for the EHS community and the question your doctor should be asking you are among this week’s top stories as featured on ISHN.com:

Around 90 % of city dwellers in the European Union (EU) are exposed to one of the most damaging air pollutants at levels deemed harmful to health by the World Health Organisation (WHO), according to the latest assessment of air quality in Europe published by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

If you plan to spend time outdoors, check the Air Quality Index (AQI) for your location. If the air quality is unhealthy, try to reduce the time you spend outside, or change your plans altogether.

You’ll soon be able to calculate how much particulate matter you’re inhaling with the Conscious Clothing system, a wearable breathing analysis tool that uses groove strips, stretchy, conductive strips of knitted silver material wrapped around the ribcage, to measure breath volume, and collects and transmits data in real time, via Bluetooth, to any Bluetooth-capable device.