Poor Air Quality: Half of Hispanic Americans At Risk

A major new report finds that half of Hispanic Americans face serious health risks because they live in areas that frequently violate air quality standards.

Titled “U.S. Latinos and Air Pollution: A Call to Action,” the report is co-authored by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Latino Coalition on Climate Change, the Center for American Progress and the National Wildlife Federation.

The report focuses on major metropolitan areas with large Hispanic populations such as those found in California, Arizona, Texas and New York.

Hispanics across the country are being urged by Latino groups to join a campaign aimed at pressuring politicians to protect and strengthen the federal Clean Air Act. That legislation and other environmental protections are being threatened by some in congress who feel it inhibits businesses and job growth.

“Latinos want clean air and a strong economy,” said Jorge Madrid, research associate at the Center for American in a press release from the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We are the fastest growing group of voters in the U.S., and we need to know our leaders in Washington are fighting to protect our health and grow jobs, those two things are not mutually exclusive.”

Already three times more likely to die from asthma than other racial groups, the Latino population stands to be hit hardest if clean air laws are repealed.

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