Diesel engines, power plants and incinerators are all sources of particulate pollution. People with healthy hearts are unaffected by the pollution. But people with diseased or elderly hearts may experience subtle changes in heart rhythm, and those can trigger a deadly heart attack. Studies suggest that people are dying relatively rapidly after you see an increase in particles. At least 12 studies over the past year have linked particulate exposure to heart rhythm changes in laboratory animals and elderly people tested in nursing homes.
Additional studies are near completion.
One EPA study that has not yet been published found that elderly volunteers experienced heart rhythm changes lasting at least a day after being exposed to polluted air collected in North Carolina. Some environmental health researchers and doctors are already advising cardiologists to warn their patients to avoid exertion on days with high particulate counts. Others say the studies are too preliminary to form a basis for medical recommendations, the paper said. President Bill Clinton issued an Executive Order last year to triple U.S. use of biobased products and bioenergy by the year 2010. Biomass today provides about three percent of U.S. energy.