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BREATHE LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to clean air and
healthy lungs in Los Angeles. One of our Center for Healthy Lungs
Researchers, Dr. Margaret Nield, is conducting a study designed to
improve quality of life for patients with lung disease by using
skype technology to facilitate face-to-face communication between
doctors and home-bound patients. 

Dr Nield notes that COPD patients can also be affected by
environmental factors. Air pollution, pollen and smoke from
seasonal wildfires can all make it more difficult for COPD and
Asthma patients to breathe. In California, and in other warm and
tropical locations, increased temperatures lead not only to
increased wildfires but to increased blooming and pollen
triggering lung irritation and respiratory distress. Dr Nield sees
a connection between Global Warming and the sharp rise in the
incidence of asthma in children, “It is a global issue. The
increase in warming and blooming of plants are part of the reason
for increase in asthma cases. Focusing on environmental issues is
only natural.  There is a link to the natural in lung health and
disease. In terms of COPD, primary causes include smoking and
second hand smoke, but the whole other point is environmental.
Global warming is the new AIDS.”

The impact of suffering related to climate-related respiratory
illness and shortness of breath is at epidemic levels. BREATHE LA
urges public health assessment to include effects of Air
Pollution. Our goal is a clean air future for Los Angeles, our
hope is an effective implementation of AB 32 to ensure we achieve
that goal. 

www.breathela.org