Congestive Heart Failure: Symptoms, Stages & Treatment
Bob Marshall: Regulatory Rollback Puts Louisianans' Health At Risk
Why do Louisiana U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise and Mike Johnson, two of the most powerful members of Congress, think your children should have a better chance of getting cancer, leukemia, suffering brain dysfunction and terrible lung diseases?
And why are they joined in this decision by their Louisiana colleagues in the House, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson and Julia Letlow, as well as U.S. Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy?
Oh, and why do they also want your children and future Louisiana generations to continue to live in the country's most polluted state with the third worst release of industrial toxins and associated health impacts — all of which help result in the fourth lowest life expectancy in the nation?
I ask this because why else would they have remained silent when President Donald Trump cheered a promised rollback of 31 regulations protecting families from these terrible outcomes — all so fossil fuel producers could make a little extra money?
This isn't hyperbole from environmental extremists out to kill industry. These warnings are coming from leading medical authorities, including the American Lung Association.
Bob Marshall
Ryan H. Martin PhotographyLabeling Trump's plan a "tragedy for health," the lung association called the changes what they were, "a historic handout to polluters at the direct expense of the health of families across America."
The group made the obvious point that the rollbacks violate the EPA's legal mandate to "protect the environment and human health."
Well, Trump disagrees.
His EPA director, Lee Zeldin, wants to change that congressionally mandated mission to "relieve the economy of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that drive up costs for American consumers. ... To lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business ... To rollback trillions in regulatory costs killing the energy industry."
Of course, that is nonsense. When those Biden-era regulations were in effect, the United States began producing more oil and gas than any nation in history and is now the world's leading exporter of gasoline.
Here are some of the most egregious actions Zeldin and Trump are so proud of.
In every announcement about these dangerous changes, the EPA website has shouted about savings for polluting industries and the possibility of reduced costs for consumers.
It never once mentions the expected increase in your medical costs or the extra suffering and likely shorter life spans for your children.
If you live in Louisiana, you might want to ask your representatives in Congress why they think it's a good idea for your kids to have better chances of painful, life-shortening diseases — just to increase profits for wealthy industries.
Why else would they support these changes?
The Detective Work Of Identifying Work-related Lung Diseases
NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Every job has its risks, but some jobs are linked to specific issues, such as lung disorders.
The risks change over time, but an expert in occupational lung diseases says the process of identifying them remains true.
From the Pennsylvania coal fields to battlefields in the Mideast, people have worked amidst dust, fumes, gases, and chemicals.
We've heard of some issues they develop like black lung, asbestos lung, and asthma, but there are hundreds of others, says Dr. Lijo Illipparambil, a pulmonary critical care expert at Temple Health.
"Like Farmer's lung. There's also Bird Fanciers' lung," says Dr. Illipparambil. "There used to be a Wine Growers lung."
Dr. Illipparambil says who develops an ailment depends on exposure, background, genetics, and still-unidentified factors.
"Some people get exposed their entire lives and have no issues, right? Others get exposed a couple times, and they end up having progressive pulmonary fibrosis," he says.
Among the first signs are a cough that doesn't go away, shortness of breath that gets worse and asthma. But because of the many diseases with similar symptoms, getting a thorough history is first and foremost.
"Because it helps us determine if there's an exposure, how much you were exposed, and some of the other background parts of your medical history can tell us - are you a higher risk?" says Dr. Illipparambil.
Questions may go back 20 or 30 years, because lung diseases can take decades to develop.
"I once got a box with about 2,500 pages of records and I went through them," says Dr. Illipparambil.
After the history comes lung function testing and a CT scan.
"Each of them has kind of their own specific way that they look on CT scan," says Dr. Illipparambil.
Occupational diseases evolve as the workplace and health standards evolve. Popcorn makers removed the chemical linked to popcorn lung, however, that chemical is now in many e-cigarette flavors.
"There's newer ones that are coming out as we get more synthetic fibers," says Dr. Illipparambil. "The earlier we start noticing something, the faster we start protecting the people who work with these materials."
Doctors and technicians do a lot of detective work in solving these cases and sometimes meet as a group to brainstorm tough ones.
Copyright © 2025 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
What Wildfire Smoke Could Be Doing To Your Lungs
Dr. Jad Kebbe, a pulmonologist at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, discusses the risks of inhaling wildfire smoke, including short- and long-term lung damage, and offers tips for protecting respiratory health.Friday, March 28th 2025, 8:07 am
By: Brooke Cox
With wildfire smoke continuing to affect Green Country, local experts are warning of the potential risks posed by inhaling smoky air. Dr. Jad Kebbe, a pulmonologist at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center who specializes in advanced lung disease, spoke with News On 6's Dave Davis about the dangers of breathing in wildfire smoke and how to protect your health.
Q: What are we breathing in when we breathe smoky air?
Dr. Kebbe: "It's a very good question. Yes, it's not a kind thing to our lungs that we are breathing all this smoke from the wildfires and the dust that surrounds us. And this can bring in carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, if we're near a fire, it can bring in aromatic hydrocarbons, which are chemicals, and even more importantly, can bring in something called small particulate matter, which are very small particle things smaller than sand, dust, things 20 times smaller than a hair strand that can go in, deep inside our lungs and cause a lot of inflammation and problems for our breathing systems. And they can cause long term damage."
Q: What are some of the short-term effects people might experience from inhaling this particulate matter?
Dr. Kebbe: "Short term, you can have irritation of your eyes, lungs, airways, if you have asthma, allergies, or can those can act up, unfortunately. But long term, the inflammation can actually cause problems with lung inflammation. Couple main things to keep in mind would be pulmonary fibrosis or sarcoidosis, which can have very long-term effect and damage to people's lung health and health in general."
Q: What is sarcoidosis, and how do you know when you need to see a doctor for it?
Dr. Kebbe: "Yes, people can develop problems with breathing. Think cough, shortness of breath, sometimes even problem with wheezing, if it affects the airways. Sarcoidosis can cause inflammation not only in the lungs but in other systems. And it's a cluster of cells of inflammation that can cause disease in lungs and other organs and can make people, even sometimes lose weight, have fever, sweat at night. So it can mimic an infection. It's one of those conditions that can have similarities with other conditions, but it's important because it can destroy the lungs long-term."
Q: Who is especially vulnerable to the effects of wildfire smoke?
Dr. Kebbe: "Yeah, I think everyone can be vulnerable, but those who have health problems, autoimmune conditions, people who have sensitive lungs, or even who have genetic predisposition to develop this type of inflammation and long-term scarring."
Q: Are people with asthma or COPD at higher risk?
Dr. Kebbe: "Of course, yes, any of this particulate matter and other hydrocarbons that people can inhale can affect the airways and can cause asthma attacks, COPD attacks. So it's very important for people to be sensitive to their symptoms, how they're changing, take their inhalers and breathing treatments and make sure they reach out to their doctors or seek medical care if they have any of those symptoms."
Q: What are some ways to protect ourselves when wildfire smoke starts affecting the air quality?
Dr. Kebbe: "It's very important for people to protect their lungs. Stay inside. If you can watch the air quality, if it goes up, make sure you are staying indoors. Use an air purifier. If you have to go outside, use something like an N95 mask or a P100 respirator. Make sure the quality of the air inside the house with the filters have been changed. Make sure that you drink enough water and stay well hydrated. And reach out to your health care provider to make sure if they have any additional recommendations for you to stay healthy."
Comments
Post a Comment