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Report Links Air Pollution To 2,000 Twin Cities Deaths In 2008

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Air pollution may be a factor in the deaths of thousands of Twin Cities residents a year, a new report says.

In 2008, pollution contributed to about 2,000 deaths, 400 hospitalizations, and 600 emergency-room visits in the seven-county metro area, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found.

The report, based on Department of Health data, estimates that six to 13 percent of all deaths in the Twin Cities can be attributed to fine particles and ground-level ozone -- the two air pollutants with the most potential to exacerbate heart and lung conditions.

"This report helps us see much more clearly than we could before just who is affected by air pollution, how serious the effects are and where we have health disparities that need to be addressed," MDH Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said in a statement. "This report gives us a baseline by which we can measure the health impacts of future reductions in air pollution."

The MPCA looked at air quality and health outcome data by zip code, and then used mathematical modeling software to determine correlation.

Little difference in air pollution was found between Twin Cities zip codes, but locations with more people of color and more residents in poverty had more extreme public health effects from air pollution, the report found, partly because those populations are more at-risk for heart and lung conditions.

"Places that have more elderly people with heart and lung conditions and children with uncontrolled asthma are places where air pollution has a greater impact," Ehlinger said.

Newer data suggest air quality has improved since 2008.

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