By BAYLEE SIMON, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON — Monique Lopez grew up in Imperial County taking asthma medication — a ritual many Imperial Valley residents know well.

“I was taking several medications a day,” said Lopez, now 24, who stopped playing basketball in high school due to her condition. It wasn’t until she spent six years living in Orange County attending college and graduate school that she learned what life was like without an inhaler.

Apparently escaping the air pollution of Imperial County was enough to clear her lungs.

“I never once had to take asthma medication. I felt significantly better,” she said.

But only a few months after she moved back to Imperial, where she lives, Lopez suffered an asthma attack and had to visit a doctor.

“This is the case for many people. I try to manage my asthma without medication, but when you’re surrounded by certain elements that are beyond your control it’s really difficult,” Lopez said.

Those elements are PM2.5 and PM10 — small particulate matter such as dust, soot, smoke and dirt, that is released into the air by factories, cars, construction activity and natural windblown dust.

These particles can aggravate breathing and damage lung tissue, leading to asthma, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Because Imperial County is a desert-area made up of rural, farming communities, residents are especially susceptible to PM emissions, which are supposed to be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act and its National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

But the EPA hasn’t met its statutory deadlines to review PM standards since 1987, a delay it attributes to a “cumbersome” and “broken” review process.

In December, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson proposed a controversial solution to expediting the process that reduces the role independent scientists play in setting clean-air standards, bringing in political appointees to draft policy instead.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Tuesday that such a change goes against the decades-long policy of having scientists work closely with EPA officials to set clean-air standards.

“You took (science) out of the process and injected politics into the entire decision,” Boxer said. “This is bad for America’s families.”

Imperial County spent 284 days in 2003 above the state’s 24-hour standard for PM10 emissions — 50 micrograms per cubic meter, the state Department of Health Services said. The current federal standard for PM10 is 150 micrograms per cubic meter.

The state Department of Health Services also ranked Imperial County second-worst out of 44 California counties for emissions of PM2.5 — smaller particles that pose the greatest health risks.

“Not using independent scientists in the review process would be bad for public health and definitely bad for a community like Imperial County that has serious air pollution problems and a significant asthma problem,” said Jan Cortez, vice-president of research and environmental health at the American Lung Association of San Diego and Imperial County.

In Imperial County, 17 percent of youths up to age 14 suffer from asthma. Of this group, 195 were hospitalized for their condition in 2003.

Roughly half of Imperial County children up to age 14 are hospitalized for asthma annually, compared to 18 percent statewide.

“Even if the (old) process takes a little longer, it’s worth it because you have scientists basing decisions on science rather than politics,” Cortez said.

But Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner Stephen Birdsall said a more efficient air-quality review process would benefit public health, so long as it scientifically sound.

Birdsall said particulate matter levels in Imperial County are slowly improving, and that there’s no direct correlation between high asthma rates and high PM10 levels.

“It’s not as easy to compare the two like the American Lung Association wants to believe it is,” said Birdsall, conceding that while Imperial County is moderately in non-attainment of the PM10 standard, it generally has low PM levels.

The last official measurement of PM10 in Imperial County was last Thanksgiving, resulting in a reading of 37 micrograms per cubic meter.

“There are a lot of factors (other than PM) that go into causing asthma,” Birdsall said. 

Last update : 26-03-2008 08:28

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