'Toontime: Unleash the Kracken!

credit: Dario Castillejos

As you know in Trumpland, up is down and green is red, so it was no surprise to US Person that a minion of Trump stood up last spring and declared to a shocked room-full of pollution scientists that air pollution does not cause fatalities from pulmonary problems. Tony Cox might be just another denier, but he heads Der Leader's panel of air quality science advisors, and is typical of his Huxlian assault on science and the truth.

The EPA is poised to review this year the health standards associated with fine particulates known as PM2.5 and ozone, the principle components of smog. The science panel he leads is responsible for advising the agency on what what levels of air pollution can be tolerated. Typical of other Trumpian appointees, Cox was recommended by a pro-business lobby group, the US Chamber of Commerce. Powerful industries are against tighter health standards because they would require further cuts in emissions. Cox has a background in statistical analysis, not atmospheric chemistry or physics. His forte is manufacturing uncertainty in statistical studies. Causal analysis is open to interpretation by emphasizing other possible factors such as temperature. But he cannot deny correlations like the one between the shutdown of a Utah steel mill release soot into the air for thirteen month. The number of children admitted to hospitals for asthma attacks and bronchitis dropped, according to one study. Once the mill reopened and the emissions returned, admissions nearly doubled.

Cox has made a living fronting for industry. He has worked as a consultant for more than a dozen industry and lobby groups opposing cleaner air including the American Petroleum Institute and the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association. Numerous scientific studies around the world have reported the same results for two decades: Fine particles and ozone raise the risk of people dying from asthma, heart attacks, pneumonia and other serious lung and heart ailments. The scientific evidence means nothing to people like Cox because they are wearing glasses that have 'yuge' dollar signs pasted to the lenses. Profit is what matters, not people. So if you have a loved one suffering from asthma or other serious lung problems, you can thank people like Cox, not Jackson, Jacobsen or Rodriquez for allowing the air you breath to be dangerous to their health.