Air Quality in the National News
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Science Daily
Air Pollution Linked To Clogged Arteries
Science Daily — Got high cholesterol? You might want to stay away from air pollution.
Diesel exhaust smoke emissions. (Credit: iStockphoto/Jonathan Eastland)
That's the message of a new UCLA study linking diesel exhaust to atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which significantly increases one's risk for heart attack and stroke. Published in the July 26 edition of the online journal Genome Biology, the findings are the first to explain how fine particles in air pollution conspire with artery-clogging fats to switch on the genes that cause blood vessel inflammation and lead to cardiovascular disease.
"When you add one plus one, it normally totals two," said principal investigator Dr. André Nel, chief of nanomedicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a researcher at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute. "But we found that adding diesel particles to cholesterol fats equals three. Their combination creates a dangerous synergy that wreaks cardiovascular havoc far beyond what's caused by the diesel or cholesterol alone." MORE
At ECO, it is our mission to hold industry accountable for community concerns about corporate pollution. We feel that the cost of doing business must include those who are most affected by the toxic emissions of corporate production. ECO believes in the power of communities working together to restore community health.
ECO: Environmental Community Organization, began in 1996 as The Environmental Network (TEN). Its founders recognized that corporate profiteers were undermining the quality of life of many ordinary people by dumping inordinate quantities of toxic chemicals into the air, sewers, waterways and aquifers. Furthermore, they recognized that government agencies were not responsive to citizen concerns about pollution in their neighborhoods, nor were they enforcing environmental laws. Ohio has one of the worst government environmental enforcement records in the entire country!
Nonetheless, ECO's founders also knew that these same ordinary people had the power to organize themselves and campaign for real change. ECO has been a catalyst for real changes in several southwest Ohio neighborhoods where polluting companies are located. Most importantly, these residents now feel that real change is possible and that they have the skills and wherewithal to see to it that these changes really do occur.
ECO provides, as a service to communities, research and technical expertise on government agencies and industries, focusing on enforcement and implementation of environmental laws.
ECO reaches out to other groups and individuals to create networks and coalitions that can work together to improve the environment.
ECO works to improve the quality of life in the Greater Cincinnati area.
ECO's mission: a network of dedicated individuals that preserves community and environmental health through organizing with communities, action to hold industry and government accountable, and education efforts.