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Go to Today's News Home Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano a Big Polluter May 17, 2005 By Peter Serafin, Associated Press Kilauea volcano, one of Hawaii's most popular tourist attractions, is als o by far the state's worst air polluter. Researchers now are trying to d etermine if that also makes it one of the state's biggest health risks. This is 6,000 times the amount emitted by a major industrial polluter on the mainland, making Kilauea the nation's top producer of sulfur dioxide . The sulfur dioxide from Kilauea reacts with other chemicals in the air to form a hazy, naturally occurring pollution known locally as "vog," or v olcanic smog. When the lava enters the ocean, concentrations of hydrochl oric acid are also formed. Most of these earl y reports mentioned eye irritation and allergy-like symptoms, but genera lly implied the condition was benign. But by the mid-1980s, Hawaii had t he highest asthma death rate in the country, according to the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Although research teams have conducted a number of studies over the past two decades, definitive conclusions on vog dangers have yet to emerge. Even without extensive data, Big Island residents have long suspected tha t vog exposure is dangerous. During "bad air days," schools routinely ke ep asthmatics and other sensitive students indoors and sometimes cancel outdoor sporting events. In addition, the US Geological Survey and the National Park Service hav e developed a real-time sulfur dioxide monitoring and advisory plan to h elp alert visitors and workers near the Kilauea caldera in Hawaii Volcan oes National Park. According to a 1995 vog symposium report issued by the Hawaii Department of Health concluded that "sulfur dioxide, fine particles in the air such as sulfates and acid aerosols, may individually or in combination prese nt significant risk." In another study, published in 1996, a team led by emergency medicine phy sician Dr. Fred Holschuh compared Big Island emergency room visits with incidents of high vog levels between 1981 and 1991. Holschuh and his colleagues concluded that those living in high vog expos ure areas sought treatment for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Big Island hospital emergency rooms more often when vog level s were high. But to date there has been little hard scientific evidence that vog is a primary cause of respiratory problems on the Big Island. Elizabeth T am, a pulmonologist at the University of Hawaii-Manoa school of medicine , is currently conducting a five-year study on the possibility of a dire ct link. Since 2002, community researcher teams have been taking biweekly air qual ity measurements throughout the island. They also are monitoring about 2 ,000 Big Island elementary school students over a four-year period. "Sulfur dioxide levels are highest in Ka'u, with particulate matter and a cidity highest in South Kona -- but they do not rival the amounts in any steel town in Pennsylvania, or in traffic on the San Diego Freeway," Ta m said. Mold, pollen and smoking also may contribute to the prevalence of asthma. Tam said that the American Lung Association recommends that people stay i ndoors during periods of heavy vog. Because vog levels tend to be higher in the afternoons, the group also advises people to conduct outdoor act ivities in the morning.
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