These steps become more menacing when viewed in the context of California s current environmental problems. California Air is Dangerously Polluted. California continues to have some of the dirtiest air in the nation. During the summer of 1999, over a thousand violations of health-based air quality standards were reported in California. Air pollution contributes to lung and other types of cancer and respiratory tract infections, can worsen chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and exacerbates asthma.
Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution.
More than 600,000 children in California suffer from asthma. California s Water is Dangerously Polluted. Pollution is fouling more and more of California's rivers, streams and bays, leaving less and less clean water for future generations. This pollution is taking its toll on California's wildlife as well. A new disease linked to PCB contamination is killing seals on the central coast.