- Nearly 46% of U.S. children live in areas with dangerous air pollution.
- The American Lung Association’s report highlights health risks, especially for vulnerable groups.
- California cities dominate the list of most polluted areas; Bangor, Maine, is cleanest.
SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly half of America’s children — 46%, which is 33.5 million — live in areas with air pollution levels that can pose a health risk, according to the latest American Lung Association “State of the Air” report released Wednesday.
And 7 million children live in areas with three unhealthy pollution problems: too high ground-level ozone air pollution — smog — and both year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution, as measured over a three-year period. That’s 1 in 10 U.S. kids.
The report grades each U.S. county’s air quality based on whether there are unhealthy levels of those pollutants. Then the annual reckoning also ranks counties and metro areas in terms of being the cleanest or most polluted…