Natural Resources Defense Council lists 35 worst cities for allergy sufferers

WASHINGTON - One-in-three Americans lives in the "sneeziest and wheeziest" cities and regions where they are exposed to both ragweed pollen and ozone smog pollution that can worsen respiratory allergies and asthma, a new Natural Resources Defense Council report released Wednesday found.

 

As a consequence, these 109 million Americans are more likely to suffer itchy eyes, runny noses and sneezing, and may find it hard to breathe. And they become more ill than those exposed to only ragweed or ozone pollution.

 

The report, "Sneezing and Wheezing: How Climate Change Could Increase Ragweed Allergies, Air Pollution and Asthma," is among the first to map the intersection of ragweed prevalence and high ozone smog, which can magnify respiratory allergies and asthma.

 

It carries a dire warning for policymakers and the nation's leaders: As climate change warms our planet, millions more Americans could become ill with potentially severe respiratory allergies and asthma.

 

That underscores the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finalize standards to strengthen the health standard for ozone pollution and to slash carbon pollution from the nation's power plants, which helps create ground-level ozone and fuels climate change. The pollutants that form health-harming ozone smog are emitted from the same fossil fuel burning that produces heat-trapping carbon pollution.

 

NRDC's report finds that 35 major cities where people are exposed to both ragweed pollen and ozone smog. The most vulnerable regions are the Los Angeles Basin, the St. Louis area, the Great Lakes Region, the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, the NRDC report found.