(JACKSON OPEN):
A study led by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health has found that--even in a mountain wilderness--periods of moderate levels of ozone can decrease active people's lung function. In this study, which was partially funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences , researchers were able to determine the effects of ozone and other air pollutants on lung function by measuring the lung function of 530 nonsmokers hiking on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire at the beginning of the day, and again at the end of the day. Dr. Susan Korrick of Brigham and Women's Hospital says:

(KORRICK):
"What we found was that--overall--for about a 50-part-per-billion increase in ozone, there was a 2.6-percent decline on average in forced expiratory volume in 1 second--which is a measure of how much air you can blow out of your lungs in 1 second. And, there was also a 2.2-percent decline in forced vital capacity associated with each 50-part-per-billion increase in ozone during hiking--that's a measure of how much air you can blow out of your lungs altogether."

(JACKSON CLOSE):
Dr. Korrick says investigators also found that ozone-related changes were about four times greater in hikers with a history of asthma or wheezing. This is Calvin Jackson , the National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, Maryland.