Study finds less tobacco smoke and lead.
The health of our blood tells a lot about the quality of the air we breathe, so much so that the federal government now plans to take a periodic checkup of the nation's blood, much like it conducts a population census. In this case, national trends on the health of America's blood will be based on a statistical sampling of 5,000 volunteer study participants. The first such report shows some encouraging and dramatic improvements with a key toxin, nicotine, and how new regulations that limit smoking in public spaces have reduced exposure tobacco's health effects. A variety of other environmental toxins, however, are equally worth watching. And this report takes the first such base measurements of various metals and organophosphate pesticides.