May 1 Marks Beginning of Asthma Awareness Month
Today is World Asthma Awareness Day, which marks the beginning of Asthma Awareness Month. Also, this week is National Air Quality Awareness Week, which has been declared by the National Weather Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to urge Americans to consider the impact of their actions on air quality and pollution.
Recent studies have shown that environmental pollutants put children at risk of developing serious illnesses. Children are especially vulnerable to toxic substances, as their systems are more fragile and their skin is more permeable. Air pollution from traffic, lead in old paints and plastic, pesticides, and chemical contaminants in tap water potentially can harm children’s health by causing respiratory disease (e.g., asthma), cognitive defects (e.g., mental retardation), and cancer.
Learn more about how air pollution affects children>>
Sites like AIRNow help to heighten air quality awareness by tracking the various types of pollution around the country and color coding regions by severity of the pollution.
See related data on kidsdata.org:
Posted by kidsdata.org
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