We’ve all heard how biofuel crops and changing weather patterns are affecting food supplies, but a scientist from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UM) believes that there may be a more insidious threat – ozone. While the ozone layer high in the atmosphere helps protect us from the sun’s radiation, ozone at lower levels is […]
Poor cabin air quality on airplanes could in large part be caused by skin oils interacting with ozone. A study in Environmental Science & Technologysuggests that these interactions could lead to the formation of chemical byproducts that might worsen nasal irritation, headaches, dry eyes and lips, and other common air traveler complaints. In simulated flights, […]
Intriguing research from Penn State University shows that air pollution has a bigger effect on the immune system of females than males – at least in mice. The experiments showed that ozone – a major component in air pollution – markedly reduced the females’ ability to fight off pneumonia. Ozone is a major pollutant in […]
Ethanol advocates say that it’s a clean-burning fuel that is friendly to the environment. But a study by Stanford scientists found that if all US vehicles ran on ethanol, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase. “Our results show that a high blend of ethanol poses an equal or greater risk to […]
A study from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences suggests that the ozone layer, while still severely depleted following decades of thinning, is no longer in decline. It has been nearly twenty years since the Montreal Protocol imposed controls on the use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC’s, believed to be the main culprit behind […]
