Killer Ozone?

Tufriast writes "This will make you think twice about an H2... The BBC News has reported that the death toll in U.S. cities might have a correlation to the ozone levels in them. The article mentions several major U.S. cities, and notices the upward trend in premature deaths as pollution levels rise. The results can also be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association."

Comments

Re:Not very scientific

[Bastian]

Although I haven't read the study, they could try and control for this. If there are cities that are more densely populated but less polluted, and those cities are still following the ozone/death curve rather than a density/death curve, the case for ozone harming peoples' health is strengthened.

Article is interesting because

[Sai Babu]

"Peaks in air ozone levels were linked with peaks in premature death rates in urban areas across the US"

It's well known that long term exposure to ground level ozone attacks your lungs and plastic and rubber products (tires, molding on your car, rubberized and vinyl fabrics, etc.)

This AMA report sez that short term correlation suggests further study. Well of course, you want to know what you're up against.

It's not the H2 that's the problem. One old V-8 that's exempt from emmission testing and driving around on 6 cylinders causes more of a problem than a hundred hummers.
The poor need their cars so these things stay on the road.