Is EPA Ignoring Serious Asthma Triggers?

An editorial published by ThinkProgress.org accuses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of ignoring its responsibilities for regulating and reducing harmful triggers of asthma attacks — such as air pollutants, ozone, and smog.

The editorial points out two recent tweets from the official EPA Twitter account that warned asthma patients of the dangers of inhaling fumes from incense and campfires at a time when the agency is rolling back or reducing regulations on the previously mentioned air pollutants, which are far more dangerous to asthmatics.

The two tweets in question were:

Summer bonfires are great, but remember that wood smoke can trigger asthma attacks
Before you burn incense and scented candles, #DYK the smoke can irritate your lungs?

“They are just distracting from the larger issues by focusing on the really small ones,” Liz Purchia, a former EPA communications official under the Obama administration, told ThinkProgress. “I’d love to see the last time they talked about carbon pollution from power plants and the threat that they posed to public health.”

The article points out two recent EPA decisions to delay enforcement of policies limiting ozone pollution and requiring oil and gas companies to detect and repair leaks of pollutants from oil and gas wells.