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Re: Study Links Smog Increases to Urban U.S. Deaths
How do you know that the study did not adjust for
confounding factors? Are you skeptical or dismissive?
--- jjcohen <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET> wrote:
> From what I've learned on Radsafe, it is clear that
> this study should be
> discredited since it does not account for possible
> confounding factors such
> as:
> Radon levels, pollen counts, beer consumption,
> sexual frequency, atmospheric
> pressure, Dow-Jones averages, astrological signs,
> etc., etc. etc, etc.------
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Flood, John <FloodJR@NV.DOE.GOV>
> To: 'Susan Gawarecki' <loc@icx.net>; RadSafe
> <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>
> Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 1:36 PM
> Subject: RE: Study Links Smog Increases to Urban
> U.S. Deaths
>
>
> > OK, I'll bite on this one.
> >
> > "Ground-level ozone typically increases when
> temperatures rise."
> >
> > AND
> >
> > "this study provides strong evidence of short-term
> effects of ozone on
> > mortality," said Francesca Dominici, an author of
> the study."
> >
> > Have they found a relationship between ozone
> concentration and the
> > short-term mortality rate, or have they actually
> found a relationship
> > between temperature and the short-term mortality
> rate, where the ozone
> > concentration is a surrogate measure for
> temperature changes?
> >
> > Bob Flood
> > Nevada Test Site
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Susan Gawarecki [mailto:loc@icx.net]
> > Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 12:04 PM
> > To: RadSafe
> > Subject: Study Links Smog Increases to Urban U.S.
> Deaths
> >
> > Imagine the outcry if nuclear power could be
> linked to even a fraction
> > of this number of deaths annually.
> >
> > Susan Gawarecki
> >
> > Study Links Smog Increases to Urban U.S. Deaths
> > http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=398
> > November 17, 2004 By Michael Conlon, Reuters
> >
> > CHICAGO - Increases in air pollution caused by
> cars, power plants and
> > industry can be directly linked to higher death
> rates in U.S. cities, a
> > study said Tuesday.
> >
> > Reducing such ozone pollution by about 35 percent
> on any given day could
> > save about 4,000 lives a year across the country,
> researchers at the
> > Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
> said.
> >
> > The conclusion came from a look at 95 urban areas
> where about 40 percent
> > of the U.S. population lives, comparing spikes in
> ozone pollution there
> > with death rates from 1987 to 2000.
> >
> > Ground-level ozone typically increases when
> temperatures rise. While
> > short-term increases have been recognized as
> causing jumps in hospital
> > admissions, especially among those with chronic
> respiratory problems,
> > there have been inconsistent results from studies
> tying them to
> > mortality rates, the authors said.
> >
> > "By linking day-to-day variations in ambient ozone
> levels and daily
> > number of deaths in each of the urban areas, and
> pooling the results
> > across the 95 urban areas, this study provides
> strong evidence of
> > short-term effects of ozone on mortality," said
> Francesca Dominici, an
> > author of the study.
> >
> > "This is one of the largest ozone pollution
> studies ever conducted,"
> > added Michelle Bell, the lead author. "This
> actually underestimates the
> > total impact of ozone on mortality, because it
> only captures the
> > mortality impact associated with high ozone levels
> in the past few days,
> > not the impact associated with a lifetime exposure
> to high ozone
> > levels," she said.
> >
> > "This reduction of ozone is modest given available
> technology," she added.
> >
> > The government-financed study, published in this
> week's Journal of the
> > American Medical Association, found that an
> increase of 10 parts per
> > billion in ozone pollution in the previous week
> was associated with an
> > increase of 0.52 percent in the daily death rate
> and specifically with a
> > 0.64 percent increase in cardiovascular and
> respiratory-related deaths.
> >
> > People aged 65 to 74 had a slightly higher
> increase in the death rate,
> > at 0.70 percent.
> >
> > The 10 parts per billion increase would correspond
> to an additional 319
> > annual premature deaths in New York City and 3,767
> premature deaths
> > annually for the other urban communities, the
> study concluded.
> >
> > Ozone pollution can be reduced by lowering energy
> consumption through
> > such things as car pooling and using public
> transportation.
> >
> > The authors said the 10 parts per billion figure
> chosen a unit for the
> > study has no special significance in itself other
> than that it helps
> > demonstrate that higher ozone is associated with
> higher mortality.
> >
> > While ground-level ozone is considered a hazard
> stratospheric ozone is
> > not because it helps protect the Earth from
> harmful solar rays.
> >
> > Source: Reuters
> >
> >
> >
>
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=====
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-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
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