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Asthma Deaths up 50% since 1980; Among Children the death rate is up 133%

June 11, 2007 - Excerpt from "Do more to fight growing scourge of asthma in city," by Albor Ruiz, Daily News Columnist, New York Daily News, NY. In New York, 1 million people are diagnosed with asthma, and their condition is made worse by ... poor indoor air quality.

This is not an exclusively New York problem, though. Nationwide, more than 450,000 people are hospitalized and 5,500 die every year of asthma. The total number of asthma deaths has risen 50% since 1980. Among children, the death rate has climbed 133%.

But New York has some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the U.S., with 300,000 children diagnosed with the illness. So bad is the situation, that asthma has been for years the leading cause of school absenteeism. It is also the most common cause of hospitalization for children 14 years and younger.

New York Daily News - Full Article

Author
Albor Ruiz
Daily News Columnist
New York Daily News, NY

New Report Summarizes Ozone Layer Protection

(Washington, D.C. - April 26, 2007) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) After nearly 20 years of international treaty protection, the six-mile-high ozone layer that shields the earth from harmful solar rays is on the road to recovery, but challenges remain, EPA reports. Achievements in Stratospheric Ozone Protection: Progress Report highlights U.S. contributions toward healing the ozone layer.

" We could not have made this progress without the collaboration of our partners from all sectors of our economy," said Bill Wehrum, EPA acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. "These partnerships have spurred progress in technology development and deployment that is protecting the ozone layer, saving energy, and preventing emissions of greenhouse gases."

The report recognizes the substantial and successful investments of the many collaborators who have worked towards protecting and restoring the ozone layer. The ozone layer has not grown thinner over most of the world since 1998, according to the report, and the Antarctic ozone level is projected to return to pre-1980 levels between 2060 and 2075.

The report also recognizes the substantial and successful investments of the many collaborators who have worked toward protecting and restoring the ozone layer.

In 1999, U.S. EPA estimated substantial benefits from the United States' work to restore the ozone layer, including:

By 2165, actions to protect and restore the ozone layer were projected to save 6.3 million U.S. lives that would otherwise have been lost to skin cancer.
Every dollar invested in ozone protection is estimated to provide $20 of societal health benefits in the United States.
Protecting the stratospheric ozone layer is estimated to produce $4.2 trillion in societal health benefits over the period 1990 to 2165.
Additionally, since many ozone-depleting substances are also greenhouse gases, replacing these substances with substitutes that are safer for the ozone layer can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This September 2007 will mark the 20th anniversary of the landmark Protocol to protect the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1987 and has been ratified by 191 countries.

The "Achievements in Stratospheric Ozone Protection" report: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/2007stratozoneprogressreport.html

Information about SunWise and sun safety: http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/

Contact: John Millett, (202) 564-4355 / millett.john@epa.gov