ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Air pollution - even when it is below current federal and state standards - is causing an estimated 64,000 deaths across the nation each year, according to a study released Wednesday.
``These numbers are estimates. They aren't absolute, but they do show the scope of the problem,'' said Deborah Shprentz, the study's author and an analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental group.
The report ranked Roanoke's level 25th-highest in the nation.
The culprit, according to the NRDC report, is ``fine particulate'' pollution. This includes particles, such as soot, that measure less than 1/25,000 of an inch, and gaseous clouds of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
These pollutants come from a broad range of sources, including coal-fired power plants, auto exhaust, wood-burning stoves, and fertilizers.
The report's conclusion - that federal Clean Air Act particulate standards must be tightened - was immediately supported by health experts.
``The federal standards clearly are not adequate,'' said Joel Schwartz, a epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. ``People are dying because of air pollution.''
``We have evidence that there really is something going on here,'' said Daniel Wartenberg, a professor at Rutgers University's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, ``and that warrants some action.''
Carol Browner, administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, on Wednesday said, ``A growing body of evidence now suggests particulates pose a serious threat in many American cities and contribute to premature deaths from lung and heart disease.''
Browner said a review of the particulate standards is under way. A decision is due by next November.
``This is really invisible pollution,'' said Herbert Patrick, director of the respiratory care department at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. ``We all know when it is smoggy ... when we can't see some buildings.
``But there are days when these fine particulates are bad, and we don't realize it until we start seeing people in the emergency room. ... The particulate level isn't even part of the daily air quality report.''
During the past 10 years, more than two dozen medical studies have found a strong relationship between increases in particulate pollution and health problems, in areas as varied as Spokane, Wash.; Santa Clara, Calif., Kingston, Tenn., and Philadelphia.
``In every case, while many other things changed, the relationship between particulates and health remained,'' said Harvard's Schwartz.
The federal standard for fine particulates is an annual average of 50 micrograms in a cubic meter of air. Levels below that are acceptable.
A study done by Harvard's Schwartz found that on those days that the particulate levels rose to between 50 and 100 micrograms, the risk of heart and lung deaths increased 15 percent to 17 percent.
Jefferson's Patrick said those days are also when more people come to his office and the emergency room with breathing problems. ``We see people with shortness of breath, with bronchial spasms,'' he said. ``It is particularly hard on those with asthma, emphysema, and bronchial conditions.''
``All we can do is offer the standard treatment and increase medications to higher doses. The alternate is to wear masks or stay indoors,'' Patrick said.
Researchers suspect that these fine particles and droplets work their way deep into the lungs, where they may inflame tissue, promote infection or interfere with normal cell function.
The EPA's Browner said that particulates may worsen cases of childhood asthma - which are on the rise - and pose a special risk to the elderly.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by AP.by CNB