Health
- Air pollution is a serious health threat. It can trigger asthma attacks, hinder lung development in children and even be deadly.
- Breathing polluted air can irritate the lungs like a sunburn irritates the skin.
- Idling vehicle engines produce thousands of tons of pollution per year including air toxins, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory and reproductive effects, birth defects or other serious health concerns.
- Ozone and particle pollution are both linked to increased risk of lower birth weight in newborns.
- Breathing ozone can shorten your life. Research shows that the risk of premature death increases with higher levels of ozone.
- People who live near high traffic roads face greater risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma and bronchitis as these places contain more concentrated levels of air pollution.
- Aerobic activities like walking and running when air quality conditions are favorable give your heart and lungs the kind of workout they need to function efficiently.
- Particle pollution can increase the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and asthma attacks and can interfere with the growth and work of the lungs.
- The average American breathes two gallons of air per minute, which means around 3,400 gallons of air each day.
- People who work or exercise outside face increased risk from the effects of air pollution.
- Many air pollution particles are smaller than 1/30th the diameter of a human hair. When you inhale them, they are small enough to get past the body’s natural defenses.
- You can protect your family by checking the air quality forecasts in your community and avoiding exercising or working outdoors when unhealthy air is expected.
- Studies have shown long-term exposure to traffic pollution can lead to poor cognition and may increase the risk for dementia.
- People of color and those earning lower incomes are often disproportionately affected by air pollution which put them at higher risk for illnesses.
- Ozone aggressively attacks lung tissue by reacting chemically with it.
- Lawn mower exhaust and gasoline vapors contain VOCs that are key to ozone formation in the presence of heat and sun.
Transportation
- Idling for longer than 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting your engine.
- Idling for 10 minutes a day wastes more than 27 gallons of fuel in a year.
- Carpooling, using transit, telecommuting and supporting programs to limit idling can all help reduce emissions that lead to poor air quality.
- Indoor air can become polluted with exhaust from vehicles idling outside.
“State of the Air” 2025
- St. Louis ranks 21st overall in the nation for most polluted U.S. cities by ozone.
- St. Louis ranks 17th overall in the nation for most polluted cities by annual particle pollution.
- 46% of people living in America — 156.1 million individuals — still live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.
- More than 34.6 million children under the age of 18 and some 25.2 million adults age 65 and over live in counties that received an “F” or at least one pollutant. Close to 9.5 million children and more than 6.7 million seniors live in counties failing all three measures.
- In the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, 37% of the population — some 125.2 million people — were exposed to levels of ozone that put their health at risk. This is an increase of 24.6 million people over last year’s figure, and includes tens of millions of infants and children, people age 65 or older and others whose conditions make them especially vulnerable to health harm from air pollution.
- More than 26 million people of color live in counties that received a failing grade on all three measures, including some 15.2 million Hispanics.
- There were 77.2 million people living in counties across the U.S. that earned an “F” grade for unhealthy spikes in particle pollution.
- 85 million people live in counties with failing grades for year-round particle pollution.
- More than 125 million people live in counties with “F” grades for ozone smog.