It is true that levels of ozone can vary, sometimes substantially, from year to year. But if ozone levels in any given area fail to trend downward over several years, it is persuasive evidence of a lack of commitment on the part of government and polluting companies alike. At levels routinely encountered in most American cities, ozone burns through cell walls in lungs and airways. Tissues redden and swell. Scars and lesions form in the airways.
Breathing is rapid, shallow and painful.
As ozone levels rise, hospital admissions and emergency department visits do the same. In some laboratory animals, cancers appear. The recent ozone monitoring data collected by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency demonstrate that not only is air pollution a continuing and major threat to public health in many major metropolitan areas, but that it seems to be actually worsening in some areas. In Charlotte, N.C., for example, the number of days in which the 0.08 part per million eight-hour ozone standard was exceeded rose from 12 in 1989 to 26 in 1997. In Atlanta, the number jumped from 17 to 26, while in Houston rose from 43 to 47.