Central Valley Town Battles Air Pollution

The 45-year-old homemaker vacuums up to three times a day. She tosses out the trash at least twice a day. Her bathrooms get scrubbed twice a day. She spurns her dishwasher and hand washes her dishes because "they get cleaner that way."

"Everything has to be clean," she said.

But she is fighting a losing battle against air pollution. Her youngest daughter, 6-year-old Samantha, developed asthma. Her other children, who range in age from 13 to 24, have experienced headaches and breathing difficulties.

"I have noticed a lot of different things since we moved here," said Zapata, who would like to move back to Kingsburg but is kept out by higher rent. Her husband, Tony Zapata Jr., is a disabled farmworker.

When she walks to the grocery store on a hot day, Zapata finds herself gasping for air. She also suffers from allergies, something as common to Valley residents as winter fog and summer heat.

Zapata is worried because other neighbors are experiencing the same illnesses from the dirty air, which is being blamed for the high number of asthma cases. A few years ago, a pharmacist at a health fair held at Parlier Junior High School complained he had run out of inhalers and medication for asthma sufferers.

Families up and down the San Joaquín Valley have complained about the dirty air and its connection to asthma and other respiratory illnesses their children suffer. Parlier, a city of 10,000, seems to be the epicenter because it is downwind from Fresno and receives its pollutants.

Last year, Ben Benavídez Elementary School began a program to display different colored flags to alert parents about the air quality. A green flag means the air quality is healthy; a red one means keep the children indoors; and, an orange colored flag means the air is not healthy for children who suffer from respiratory problems.

More
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=3caabced562403b9ecd72f7b8b1335fb