by Brian Moench 01/20/2007
Twenty-three years ago I built my home on a lot with a wonderful view of Mt. Olympus. Whenever I leave Salt Lake and come back to see the Wasatch Mountains after a long absence I am awestruck by the spectacularly beautiful backdrop they give our city.
Lately I've been getting that feeling without having to leave the valley. It seems the thick, suffocating, dangerous smog (euphemistically called haze by local weathermen and lawmakers) is regularly obliterating my view, making opportunities to see our mountains increasingly rare.
But the issue of air pollution is much more than aesthetics. The air in Salt Lake is dangerous at least 13 percent of the time. "Dangerous" means people with heart and lung disease, the immunosuppressed, children and the elderly will experience an increased incidence of respiratory infections, asthma, bronchitis, heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
It means that healthy adults will experience a low-grade inflammatory response in their circulatory systems that over many years will accelerate atherosclerosis and affect every organ in their bodies. It means that more people will get cancer of every variety, especially in the lungs.
It means that people, even trained athletes, should not exercise outdoors. It means that on average the life expectancy of every resident in the valley (including the politicians who ignore this problem) will be shortened by at least three years, the same amount as if they had smoked a quarter of a pack of cigarettes a day.
I doubt that most Salt Lake residents want to be forced into a smoking habit, but that's exactly what's happening to everyone, even infants and children. The impact on children is frequently the most tragic.
As an anesthesiologist it is my job to put patients to sleep and provide necessary life support while other doctors perform surgery or other delicate medical procedures. Recently I provided this care for three children while they received radiation treatment for brain cancer.
The oldest was only 4 years old. Witnessing the grieving of these families was emotionally overwhelming.
Eighty percent of cancer is environmentally caused. We usually don't know the exact cause of infantile brain cancer but the incidence has tripled since 1975. Childhood leukemia has shown a similar increase.
Likely sources for the triggering agent of the malignancies in these three children would include exhaust fumes. Children that live in urban smog have an increased incidence of brain and other types of cancer.
Historically, the federal government has assumed that children and adults face the same level of risk for a given level of chemical exposure. Just recently, however, the federal government has acknowledged that children are more susceptible to carcinogens than are adults.
Chemicals that cause genetic mutations can be up to 65 times more potent in their effects on children than on adults. New risk assessment methods conclude that children accumulate 50 percent of their lifetime cancer risk by the age of 2.
Children's unique vulnerabilities are related to several factors. Compared to adults they have a greater exposure on a per-weight basis, they are less able to detoxify and excrete chemicals, their immature organ and immune systems are more susceptible to damage, their more rapid cellular divisions may accelerate cancer growth and their higher metabolic rate means they consume more air, food and water and all accompanying contaminants.
When the effects of air pollution are added up, public health officials estimate that every year 70,000 people in this country die premature deaths from air pollution. At the very least I know that the air pollution in Salt Lake will cost me three years of my life and that means many fewer delightful encounters with my grandchildren.
Hoping for the next storm is not an exit strategy from our dangerous smog. To have lawmakers on Capitol Hill who understood this would truly be a breath of fresh air.
---
* BRIAN MOENCH is a physician at LDS Hospital and former instructor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School.
Lately I've been getting that feeling without having to leave the valley. It seems the thick, suffocating, dangerous smog (euphemistically called haze by local weathermen and lawmakers) is regularly obliterating my view, making opportunities to see our mountains increasingly rare.
But the issue of air pollution is much more than aesthetics. The air in Salt Lake is dangerous at least 13 percent of the time. "Dangerous" means people with heart and lung disease, the immunosuppressed, children and the elderly will experience an increased incidence of respiratory infections, asthma, bronchitis, heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
It means that healthy adults will experience a low-grade inflammatory response in their circulatory systems that over many years will accelerate atherosclerosis and affect every organ in their bodies. It means that more people will get cancer of every variety, especially in the lungs.
It means that people, even trained athletes, should not exercise outdoors. It means that on average the life expectancy of every resident in the valley (including the politicians who ignore this problem) will be shortened by at least three years, the same amount as if they had smoked a quarter of a pack of cigarettes a day.
I doubt that most Salt Lake residents want to be forced into a smoking habit, but that's exactly what's happening to everyone, even infants and children. The impact on children is frequently the most tragic.
As an anesthesiologist it is my job to put patients to sleep and provide necessary life support while other doctors perform surgery or other delicate medical procedures. Recently I provided this care for three children while they received radiation treatment for brain cancer.
The oldest was only 4 years old. Witnessing the grieving of these families was emotionally overwhelming.
Eighty percent of cancer is environmentally caused. We usually don't know the exact cause of infantile brain cancer but the incidence has tripled since 1975. Childhood leukemia has shown a similar increase.
Likely sources for the triggering agent of the malignancies in these three children would include exhaust fumes. Children that live in urban smog have an increased incidence of brain and other types of cancer.
Historically, the federal government has assumed that children and adults face the same level of risk for a given level of chemical exposure. Just recently, however, the federal government has acknowledged that children are more susceptible to carcinogens than are adults.
Chemicals that cause genetic mutations can be up to 65 times more potent in their effects on children than on adults. New risk assessment methods conclude that children accumulate 50 percent of their lifetime cancer risk by the age of 2.
Children's unique vulnerabilities are related to several factors. Compared to adults they have a greater exposure on a per-weight basis, they are less able to detoxify and excrete chemicals, their immature organ and immune systems are more susceptible to damage, their more rapid cellular divisions may accelerate cancer growth and their higher metabolic rate means they consume more air, food and water and all accompanying contaminants.
When the effects of air pollution are added up, public health officials estimate that every year 70,000 people in this country die premature deaths from air pollution. At the very least I know that the air pollution in Salt Lake will cost me three years of my life and that means many fewer delightful encounters with my grandchildren.
Hoping for the next storm is not an exit strategy from our dangerous smog. To have lawmakers on Capitol Hill who understood this would truly be a breath of fresh air.
---
* BRIAN MOENCH is a physician at LDS Hospital and former instructor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School.
5 comments:
Ummm, before people get all self rightous over pictures of "evil industrial plants", you might want to check out what they are actually putting into the atmosphere. The picture you show is primarily (99%+) wator vapor.
tw
The photo is of a coal plant in Wyoming. Nothing more or less. The substance is in the article.
But just for you tw, I will put up a new photo so that you might actually read the article.
Look this isn't a bad thing, the air can absorb it..right?
Next thing you know, you'll be complaing about global warming...which also doesn't exisist.
Yeah , it just haze and water vapor. No worries...
Here's a nice movie of the "haze" -
http://www.time-science.com/timescience/projects_meteo.asp
You can't see downtown for a full week in January. Just like we're living Blade Runner!
I was raised in the Salt Lake Valley from age 6 until I was 19, and then lived in Utah Valley until shortly after I finished my degree at BYU. My wife and I lived downtown Salt Lake for a couple of years. I worked at UPS at the time, and lost my job due to absenteeism because I was too sick to work during the peak Christmas season. Sure it was some virus that knocked me down for a few days, but it was the secondary respiratory problems that made it difficult to get back up.
In my first six years of life, until we moved to Utah, I had never experienced bronchitis, or any other serious respiratory problem. Within a year and a half of living in Utah, I received my first diagnosis, and at least once every year I suffered through a pretty severe case. We kept prescription medications on hand to manage it (including phenergan), as it was so frequent (in me and my siblings). This culminated in a severe chronic case when I was 19, when I had to be placed on a cocktail of five medications (including steroids, which I admit was actually a bit fun) to recover. The doctor told me that I would likely have mild asthma for the rest of my life.
I live in Encinitas now, just north of San Diego, California. Since moving here 11 years ago, I haven't even come close to having bronchitis, asthma, or any other respiratory problem. With our coastal breezes, we have no pollution problems.
Through this process I've learned that Utahns (especially Mormons) aren't nearly as health conscious as they may appear. Quite to the contrary, they seem health "unconscious." They follow the Word of Wisdom, not smoking or drinking (as much), but they do this primarily through blind obedience to religious dogma, leaders, and their community, and not through the active and intelligent pursuit of health.
Brian, you're not just fighting air pollution, you're fighting cultural pollution. I commend you for it, even if, at times, it seems a fool's errand.
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