Thank you to all of you who supported HB 70 from the Chamber of Commerce, the PTA, Overstock.com, the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, all the doctors at the Pulmonary and Critical Care Units of the University of Utah, especially Dr. Richard Kanner, Wasatch Clean Air Coalition, Breathe Utah, Bike Utah, Cactus and Tropical and Vitalize Studio among many others.

Utah Moms for Clean Air also wants to extend a big THANK YOU to Rep Patrice Arent for her wise leadership and to the other Representatives who co-sponsored this bill: Jack Draxler (R), Roger Barrus, (R) Rebecca Chavez-Houck (D), Christine Watkins (D), Ryan Wilcox (D), Rebecca Edwards (D), Brian King (D), Neal Hendrickson (D), Gregory Hughes (D), Melvin Brown (D), Stephen Handy (D), Stewart Barlow (D), and Brian Doughty (D).

If you know of other associations, businesses, or community leaders who would be interested in endorsing the bill please pass the information along, as we still have time to collect additional signatures before HB 70 moves to the Senate.

Also, if your Representative is not listed as co-sponsoring the bill please contact him or her and urge them to do the right thing for Utah.

KSL provided some solid coverage of the hearing and the bill: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=19006666&title=legislative-committee-sends-air-quality-task-force-bill-through-to-house.

HB 70 represents hope on our too often polluted horizon.

The Task Force process will educate legislators, and help them develop bills for the next Session. Bills that have gone thru this process are much more likely to pass.

This important bill needs diverse geographic & interest group support because there is intense competition for Task Force funding. Please ask any community or governmental organization you participate in to endorse HB 70 asap!

Endorsements can be emailed: parent@le.utah.gov

Also, please ask your House member to sign on as a cosponsor if they have not already. If they have signed on, please take a moment to thank them as well.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE HB 70 A REALITY!!

The world of health and medicine can be confusing to many parents. But Nurse Suzy is here to help clarify some of the issues that are important to you and your family.

Question:

Why do people with respiratory problems have a hard time breathing during the winter months?

Answer:

People with respiratory problems often have a hard time breathing, and when the air is full of particulate matter it becomes almost impossible for them to get a good breath.

In the winter, or on very hot summer days, it seems more difficult to breathe because the air holds onto pollution particles and the air pressure makes it so they have nowhere to go. Because of the damage to their respiratory system, people with respiratory issues have very little ability to filter out the bad particles.

Let me just give some brief information about respiratory problems.

Symptoms of a respiratory problem include:

dyspnea (difficulty breathing)
tachypnea (rapid breathing)
hypopnea (shallow breathing)
hyperpnea (deep breathing)
apnea (absence of breathing)

Breathing problems may occur with conditions affecting the lungs alone or may be seen in association with more generalized conditions, according to an article on BetterMedicine.com. Examples of such conditions include dehydration, infections or side effects from medications.

“Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis) and asthma are common causes of respiratory symptoms,” BetterMedicine.com states. “Other common causes include infections, such as pneumonia or acute bronchitis.”

Depending on the cause, respiratory symptoms may begin in one or both lungs and may be accompanied by rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, shortness of breath, headache and dizziness.

When you have respiratory problems of any kind, particles in the air make it harder to breath. Cold air can literally freeze airway passages; and if you already have scarred airways, it just makes it worse.

Smoking, of course, is the worst way to damage your lungs, but breathing constant second-hand smoke, paint fumes, or dirt from construction or mining can also cause scarring. Congenital diseases and asthma can take their toll as well.

If you have many years of injury to your lungs and become ill, it will be harder to recover. While medical treatment can help, there is no “cure” to repair your injured lungs. Because of this, it becomes a real challenge to get patients with injured lungs through any illness — which can be very frustrating to both the patients and the doctors.

During the winter months, all hospitals see an increase in patients with respiratory problems due to the cold weather, poor air quality, viruses and bacteria — which are all common in our area.

But some of those visits can be avoided. If you know you have respiratory problems, stay indoors on inversion days. Also, take your respiratory medications as prescribed. If you cannot afford the medications, consult with your doctor to find a cheaper alternative. There are many medications that can be interchanged with no complications.

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Ask Nurse Suzy

Do you have a question for Nurse Suzy, or maybe a topic you’d like her opinion on? Email her at nursesuzyksl@gmail.com.

With the recent surge of interest in Utah Moms for Clean Air (winter pollution and the Kennecott lawsuit!), we are hosting our next volunteer meeting sometime in mid-January. To best accommodate as many people as possible, we are taking a survey of which dates work best:

Monday, January 16th (no school day): 1pm
Tuesday, January 17th: 9:00am
Tuesday January 17th: 1pm
Wednesday January 18th: 4:00pm
Wednesday January 18th: 8pm

Please let us know all the dates/times that work for you and whether or not you will be bringing kids. Kids are always welcome to the meetings, which is TBA but near the U of U.

During this meeting we will discuss specific ways to get involved — or even ways to start your own clean air initiative. We will also be seeking volunteers for our 4th “kids at the capital” event in February and for someone to organize our year-round tabling efforts.

You can respond by emailing us directly at: supermoms at utahmomsforcleanair dot org

Thank you!!

The fact is, Rio Tinto/Kennecott is thrusting millions of dollars in costs — in the form of air pollution — unto the people of Utah and expecting us to pay their tab. We pay with our health and diminished quality of life. Some Utahns tragically even pay with that which is most precious — their own lives.

Every year between 1000 and 2000 Utahns die prematurely due to our chronic air pollution problem. There is no way around the fact that this is cheating, as well as deeply unethical and immoral.

Making money is obviously a fully acceptable endeavor, but NOT at the expense of innocent others, such as the children of Utah.

All we are asking of Rio Tinto, who is currently responsible for about 30% of the particulate air pollution in our valley, is that they adhere to the Federally mandated Clean Air Act and pay the true costs of doing their business. Is this too much to ask? We think not.

For coverage of yesterday’s press conference where Utah Moms for Clean Air and the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment announce the filing of a law suit, please see:

KCPW Radio

KSL Television

Salt Lake Tribune

Deseret News