Air Particles Found To Increase Respiratory Health Problems
Imagine a particle of soot so small that thirty particles placed side by side would be about the same width as a human hair.
Environmentalists call this a fine particle. Its measurement is PM 2.5; particulate matter equal to or less than 2.5 microns in diameter. But put enough of those fine particles of soot in the air we breathe and the result is not so fine at all. In fact, for older people the results may be deadly.
Particle response
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains a national monitoring network known as AIRS: the Aerometric Information Retrieval Service. This network measures air quality factors, including fine particles generated by power plants and automobile exhaust.
In a recent study partly funded by the EPA, US researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health assessed potential health risks of short-term exposure to fine particles, which can deeply penetrate the respiratory tract.
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