Soot and smog pollution are scientifically associated with 15.000 deaths annually and a million cases of respiratory problems each year. They are also responsible for some 400,000 cases of asthma attacks every year, including thousands of aggravated cases of asthma, especially in children. And all based on a faulty premise. Therefore, any direct comparison would not be a proper use of the information and would produce inaccurate findings. Evidently it did.
Doctors also deny that air pollution is responsible for the increased incidence of asthma.
That explains why asthma rates are rising most rapidly among inner-city children. It is also possible that reports of asthma are rising faster than the condition itself. But even worse than basing policy on spurious health crises is Browner's propensity for Impeding progress. New diesel trucks emit 88 percent less pollution than those built 15 years ago. Models coming out after 2001 will be even cleaner.