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The American Lung Association (ALA) has handed down failing grades to Chicago and Houston among 25 U.S. cities for the alarming amount of pollution clogging up their airways.
The ALA report ranked the nation's 25 biggest offenders based on ozone and particle pollution.
According to ABC7 News, the ALA placed Chicago’s ozone level as the 16th most polluted in the country. Houston’s ozone pollution grabbed the eighth spot.
The effects of ozone pollution can be seen through the smog that surrounds these cities. When breathed in, smog can irritate the lung’s airways, ABC7 News reports.
The ALA describes ozone pollution as a bad sunburn for your lungs.
Advocacy Director for the ALA in Illinois, Kristina Hamilton, said, “Chicago is also a major transportation hub. We have a lot of road traffic, truck traffic that goes through the city that adds to the ozone levels.”
Chicago tied with Houston and received the 22nd spot for the highest particle pollution in the U.S. Soot in the air from particle pollution can deeply seep into one’s lungs.
Hamilton said, "It is considered a cause of lung cancer, and can also be very dangerous to people with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes.”
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