American Lung Association is out of puff on global warming



It seems reasonable that heavy air pollution has adverse health effects of some kind but the situation is not as clearcut as one might think. I know the research literature on that rather well and have often critiqued it on my FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC blog.

In summary: Evidence from human studies in the Western world is very equivocal -- consisting of epidemiological speculation based on weak relationships in studies that do not control for important potential confounders. But that literature focuses on particulate pollution -- and CO2 is a gas, not a particle. And the idea that CO2 -- which we all produce and breathe out -- might be damaging to health is simply laughable.

So the lungies are deliberately misrepresenting the attack on the EPA. The attack does NOT aim to interfere with regulation of particulate pollution -- only with CO2 regulation.

Political corruption has crept into the management of even the most prestigious medical journals (Lancet and BMJ, for instance, often push Leftist causes) so I don't suppose we can expect much integrity from the lungies


The American Lung Association strongly opposes Chairman Fred Upton, Senator James Inhofe, and Representative Ed Whitfield’s bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to update clean air standards. If passed by Congress, this legislation would interfere with EPA’s ability to implement the Clean Air Act; a law that prevents tens of thousands of adverse health effects caused by air pollution, including asthma attacks, heart attacks and even premature death each year. A report released earlier this week by EPA found that cutting pollution through the Clean Air Act will save $2 trillion by 2020 and prevent at least 230,000 deaths annually.

“Chairman Upton’s and Senator Inhofe’s bill is a reckless and irresponsible attempt to once again put special interests ahead of public health, a maneuver the public is staunchly opposed to,” said Charles D. Connor, President and CEO of the American Lung Association.

In a poll conducted by the American Lung Association in February 2011, nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose Congressional action that interferes with the EPAs efforts to update clean air standards. Three out of four voters support the EPA setting tougher standards on specific air pollutants, including mercury, smog and carbon dioxide, as well as setting higher fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty trucks.

Connor continued, “The enactment of the Upton-Inhofe-Whitfield bill would strip away sensible Clean Air Act protections that safeguard Americans and their families from air pollution. Americans have these protections because over the past 40 years Congressional leaders of both parties worked together to protect the lives and health of their constituents. We strongly urge Congress to reject this approach and support the continued implementation of this vital law.”

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