Sources of Air Pollution

The major source of air pollution in the United States is the automobile. Gasoline vapors account for much of the poison spewed into the air. Included in this category are many thousands of businesses serving the automotive industry, from gas stations to car-repair shops. Despite the enactment of many laws governing auto emissions, cars are the number of polluters, providing about 55 percent of the smog. Much of the other 45 percent of pollution comes from oil refineries and power utilities. Chemical company plants are responsible for a great many poisonous chemicals entering the atmosphere, as are high-technology plants, such as those located in California's Silicon Valley. However, in this industrial age, even small businesses such as bakeries and dry cleaners contribute to the problem, as well as individuals using paint, ink and dye products.

In Los Angeles alone it has been estimated that in addition to automobiles, more than 60,000 stationary emission points contribute to the problem. This is in addition to the eight million automobiles and truck in Los Angeles basin (Brown, 1987).

Pesticides sprayed into the air by farm growers and other to

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lion asthma victims find that polluted air can bring on painful, sometimes life-threatening attacks. In an additional 10 percent of the population of the U.S., years of exposure to polluted air can eventually trigger asthma and other respiratory problems. Even if a person is healthy, dirty air can cause an assortment of health problems often blamed on other causes, such as stress and allergies. With 73 U.S. cities unable to achieve federal clean-air standards, the culprit is often the air. For millions of Americans, there is not magic pill to make one immune to air pollution. The best one can do is to keep track of the air quality each day and adjust the outdoor activities accordingly. The local air-quality index is useful for this purpose. It com-bines levels of 5 different pollutants detected at more than 4,500 monitoring stations nationwide scattered around 360 urban areas. The pollutants are carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and dust particles. The index ranges from a low of "0" to a high of "500." When air quality is moderate or worse, outdoor activity can trigger tightness in the chest, wheezing, burning eyes and an irritated nose and throat--even if one is in good health. When the reading
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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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