Downtown KC: Pollution Raises Asthma Rates
By Sara Campbell 

March is asthma awareness month. 82,000 adults and 31,000 children in the Kansas City Metro Region are living with asthma and I am one of them.

I, my sister and both of our daughters have asthma which is aggravated by air pollution. As a disabled Army veteran, my severe asthma attacks affect the way I live my life but they also create a large expense for health system. My niece’s most recent flare-up forced her into an expensive trip to the emergency room. She was lethargic and her skin turned blue. She now needs to use a nebulizer to help her breathe and we must make choices about how often she can go outside and when.  She is only 10 years old.

In downtown Kansas City we face above-average rates of asthma symptoms, particularly in children. Jackson County has significantly higher rates of asthma emergency visits and hospitalizations when compared to the rest of the region. And the Kansas City Region has significantly higher asthma emergency room visits and asthma-related hospitalizations than the state of Missouri.

We need to be talking about a major cause of asthma symptoms: air pollution. Living in Downtown Kansas City comes with many amenities, but in order to live there with asthma, I keep my apartment windows closed and use air purifiers, expensive medications and breathing treatments. Part of the issue is because I live in an area with high rates of sulfur dioxide (SO2) caused by the outdated coal-fired plant, Veolia Energy. 

Another part of the problem is smog. In January, I testified at one of three EPA hearings on the Proposed Ground Ozone (Smog) Levels about how my family and I struggle with asthma and how important it is to tighten our national smog restrictions. Half of all Missourians live in areas with high ozone pollution, but most people do not know that they are at risk.

Missouri residents deserve clean air, so fourteen Missouri state legislators have submitted letters to the EPA calling for the agency to issue a stronger smog pollution standard in order to protect public health. 

Tightening the smog standards will benefit the economy by creating more jobs as a result of innovation and investment in new technologies. Smog standards would also reduce related healthcare costs, which are the leading cause of bankruptcies in this country.

March is Asthma Awareness month. I urge you to stand strongly against the relentless industry pushback in order to protect our community’s health.