The News
Air's grit found to be potent risk
While older women have appeared to be more susceptible to pollution, the large federal study quantifies the danger.
By Jeff Donn The Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/01/2007 01:00:00 AM MST

Boston - The fine grit in polluted air boosts the risk of heart disease in older women much more powerfully than scientists realized, a big federally funded study has found, raising questions of whether U.S. environmental standards are strict enough.
The Environmental Protection Agency tightened its daily limit for these tiny specks, known as fine particulates, in September. But it left the average annual limit untouched - 15 millionths of a gram for every cubic meter of air.
In this study of 65,893 women, the average exposure was 13 units, with two-thirds of the subjects falling under the national standard. But every increase of 10 units, starting at zero, lifted the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease by about 75 percent.
"There was a lot of evidence previously suggesting that the long-term standard should be lower, and this is adding one more study to that evidence," said Douglas Dockery, a pollution specialist at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The Research
Read the article behind this story in the journal New England Journal of Medicine.