L.A.'S INVISIBLE KILLER OZONE STUDY PROMPTS CALL FOR TIGHT CONTROLS.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

A new medical study that found even minute amounts of ozone in the air can be deadly prompted calls Wednesday for much stricter controls on emissions of the invisible gas in smog-ridden Los Angeles.

The landmark study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that relatively low levels of ozone emissions caused cardiovascular and lung diseases responsible for thousands of deaths nationwide. Previous studies have linked ozone to increased hospital admissions and cases of respiratory illnesses, including wheezing and coughing and shortness of breath.

``Ozone is a very big killer,'' said Todd Campbell, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air in Los Angeles. ``The new evidence in this study shows the deadly effects of even lower concentrations of ozone. That calls into question our ozone standards.

``We need to urge the local, state and federal governments to move toward attainment of current goals and to re-evaluate current standards as to whether they are sufficient enough to protect public health on a widespread basis.''

The study was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and conducted by scientists at Yale and John Hopkins universities.

The EPA and the California Air Resources Board are both considering tightening current ozone level standards and are considering data from various studies.

This study follows a USC study released in September that found that children exposed to particulate matter in smoggy Southern California neighborhoods have underdeveloped lungs, putting them at risk of illness and premature death.

Although numerous studies have estimated that fluctuations in daily ozone levels might be linked to deaths, results have been inconclusive.

This study, which examined ozone data in 95 large U.S. urban areas from 1987 to 2000, found that a 10 parts-per-billion increase in ozone levels in a single day was associated with more than a 0.5 percent increase in cardiovascular- and respiratory-related deaths within a few days.

Nationwide, that translates into an extra 3,767 deaths annually in the 94 urban areas, including 319 in New York City. No figures were given for other cities.

But experts said the Los Angeles area has some of the worst ozone levels in the nation and estimated that hundreds of additional deaths also occur here.

That's in addition to as many as 4,200 people in metropolitan Los Angeles who die each year of diseases caused by exposure to particulate matter - the tiny particles in smog that make the air look dirty.

So far this year, the South Coast Air Quality Management District has recorded 27 days over the one-hour ozone standard and 88 days above the eight-hour ozone standard. In 2003, the AQMD recorded 65 days above the one-hour standard and 115 days above the eight-hour standard.

``In Los Angeles County, the worst area for ozone is out towards the Santa Clarita Valley,'' said Joe Cassassi, senior meteorologist at the AQMD.

The (Los Angeles) basin, the eastern portion of the county and San Bernardino and Riverside counties have equally high levels of ozone. The area that tends to have the highest levels is located in the San Bernardino Mountains.''

The study also found that the increase in deaths occurred at levels below the EPA's clean air standards.

Michelle Bell, a study author and assistant professor at Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, said it was not just the elderly and people with chronic heart and lung diseases who died.

``We found the percentage increase was similar across all age groups,'' Bell said. ``This is not just a problem for the frail and elderly.''

Bell also said exercising outdoors on days with high ozone levels puts people at risk.

``We are finding that children are not only losing lung function, up to 20 percent, but also discovering that they are acquiring respiratory problems if they are athletic - if they participate in two to three sports in highly polluted areas such as Los Angeles,'' Campbell said.

``That's disturbing because our belief before was that ozone would only exacerbate those conditions, and now we are finding it is causing those conditions.''

The average daily ozone level for the cities studied was 26 ppb while the EPA's maximum allowable ozone level is 80 ppb over an eight-hour period. The EPA is considering lowering that to 70 ppb.

``In terms of the district, we are a fair distance away from meeting the current standards,'' said Jean Ospital, AQMD health effects officer.

``Our efforts are focused on reducing emissions as best we can and as fast as we can to meet air quality standards because these are serious health effects. We are encouraging the state Air Resources Board and the EPA to lower those standards and to put in place programs to reduce emissions every chance we get.''

Gennet Paauwe, spokeswoman for the California Air Resources Board, said the state ozone standards are already lower than the federal ones and the board is set to decide in January whether to lower them further.

``The state standard is a goal,'' Paauwe said. ``The majority of the areas in the state already don't meet the federal standard. But California air is much cleaner than it used to be.''

Bonnie Holmes-Gen, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association of California, said the air resources board needs to tighten diesel standards on airplanes, trucks, boats, trains and port machinery, along with regular vehicles.

``We have a long ways to go to address ozone problems and improve public health,'' she said. ``About 95 percent of the population of the state lives in areas where the air is unhealthy to breathe.

``Especially at the federal level, we think unfortunately there has been a tendency to talk about easing the burden on polluters and rolling back key provisions of the federal Clean Air Act. We are extremely concerned about that kind of discussion and the types of changes proposed by the Bush administration.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com