this time, about California air quality. From Fox News and Steven Milloy:
We’re all victims of this state’s tragically poor air quality. California has the worst air pollution in the nation,” claims Roberts.
Clinton says that air pollution prevents Californians from “living out the full lives they deserve to have.”
What does [nonattainment] mean in the real lives of people?” Clinton asked at a speech at UCLA on Oct. 14. “It means more asthma, more bronchitis, [and] more lung cancer. It means heart disease, lung disease and premature death,” he said.
But are any of Clinton’s claims true?
As usual, the answer appears to be no. Continuing on:
The prevalence of asthma in California was below the U.S. national average (7.7 percent vs. 8.1 percent), according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California has a lower asthma rate than most states that fully meet (attain) federal air quality standards. California’s death rate from chronic lower respiratory disease (CLRD) -- including emphysema, chronic bronchitis and asthma -- was 20 percent below the U.S. average (34.4 vs. 42.2 per 100,000 people).
Even within the state there appears to be little correlation between air pollution and respiratory problems.
Los Angeles County has by the far the most Californians exposed to nonattainment air, yet it has a relatively low death rate from CLRD. In contrast, Humboldt County is in attainment yet has one of the state’s highest CLRD death rates.
How about lung cancer risk? For men, California ranks in the lowest quartile among states ranked by the CDC. For women, California ranks in the next-to-lowest quartile. Attainment states like Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin all have much similar or much higher lung cancer rates.
By the way, a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Oct. 24) could find no support for the proposition that gasoline exhaust increases lung cancer risk.
California’s heart disease rate is also below the national average (504 vs. 536 annual deaths per 100,000 people). The rate for Los Angeles County, which supposedly has the “riskiest” air in the state, is on par with the national average. Attainment states like Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma all have substantially higher heart disease rates than California.
With respect to premature death, California has the fourth lowest death rate among the states -- a death rate roughly one-third lower than that of attainment states.
Clinton also warned that, “At the age of two months, babies in Los Angeles have already breathed enough toxins to reach the EPA’s lifetime limit for cancer risk from dirty air.”
Putting aside the question of whether these toxins actually increase cancer risk, Clinton basically implies that California air virtually guarantees that Californians will get cancer. But according to the CDC, the cancer rates for California men and women are about 9 percent and 6 percent below the national average, respectively. California’s cancer rates are below those of attainment states such as North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.
So what is to be made of the fact that while most of California doesn’t meet federal air quality standards, the state’s population doesn’t appear to be adversely impacted? Moreover, Californians seem healthier than the populations of states in full attainment with federal standards.
Once again, we have been MisLed by Bubba and his civilan moonbat brigade.
