How air pollution hurts your kids' lungs

April 21, 2008|By Judy Fortin CNN Medical Correspondent                                                                                                                         Twice a day, 7-year-old Hannah Austin exhales all the air from her lungs. She then takes a puff of a low-dose steroid from a purple inhaler, holds her breath for a few seconds and exhales.

Like nearly 7 million other children in the United States, Hannah, a second-grader from Smyrna, Georgia, has asthma. This simple exercise with the inhaler allows her to breathe easier.

But on a day when the air quality is poor, she often struggles to catch her breath."We know that environmental pollutants have a very significant impact on children with asthma," said Dr. Avril Beckford, a pediatrician in Austell, Georgia.

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution because their lungs don't fully form until they are adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics noted.

The leading pediatricians group added that "because children spend more time outdoors than do adults, they have increased exposure to outdoor air pollution."

"If you live near a polluted area of a city, it's like the child is smoking," said best-selling author and pediatrician Bill Sears. "We all know what smoking does for the lungs."

Sears called the long-term effect of air pollution on a developing child devastating. "Children do not grow as well because they do not breathe as well. The brain really needs a lot of oxygen. They don't think as well. They don't learn as well."

Hannah's asthma was diagnosed last summer. Her mother, Drew Austin, became alarmed when she noticed that Hannah was short of breath while swimming.

"When her asthma is really bad, she just gets lethargic and starts coughing," Austin said.

Coughing, wheezing or whistling when exhaling, and shortness of breath are some of the most common symptoms of asthma in children.

Sears warned that the symptoms can lead to poor sleep habits. "When the child wakes up in the morning with a runny nose and baggy eyes, you can tell they didn't sleep well because they were coughing in the night," he said.

Proper diagnosis and treatment can help manage asthma symptoms. Experts also recommend that people with asthma avoid indoor and outdoor allergens and irritants.

Indoor triggers include dust mites, mold, furry pets, tobacco smoke and certain chemicals.

Outdoor irritants range from pollen to cold air to air pollution.

Michael Chang, an atmospheric research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, estimated that 50 percent of air pollutants are created by cars and trucks.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Summary:   Children with Asthma nowadays are having a hard and harder time trying to breathe with the air quality we have now. Since kids lungs don't grow until they are in their teen years, they are always outdoors so they have a bigger risk of air pollution. When the air pollution is bad, the kids can’t focus as well because the brain needs oxygen and if the brain doesn't have it it doesn't work properly. 

                                                                                                                                                                                 1.What can we do to prevent air pollution?                                                                                                                                     2. How do we stop pollution now?                                                                                                                   3.are their any real ways to stop pollution?