From John Kerry’s convention speech: “What does it mean when twenty five percent of the children in Harlem have asthma because of air pollution?”

Answer: It means Kerry is peddling junk science at the behest of his meddling wife. As science journalist Mike Fumento has noted,

Since 1970, the total national emissions of the six principal pollutants the Environmental Protection Agency tracks have been cut 48 percent, even as energy consumption increased 42 percent and the population increased 38 percent.

[Particulate matter] emissions have only been tracked since 1993, but by 2002 had fallen 17 percent. In terms of air quality, they have only been measured since 1998 but by 2003 had dropped eight percent…even as dirty air levels plummeted, asthma incidence from 1980 to 1999 increased by 83 percent according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The scare-mongering about asthma in Harlem comes straight from Teresa’s playbook. She recently gave environmental activist Peggy Shepard, who has made a name for herself hyping the asthma epidemic, the $250,000 Heinz Award for her “brave voice” and “courageous advocacy” against “environmental racism.”

A hint of Hillaryism to come? Yes, well, she has earned her right to be o-PIN-knee-o-nay-ted.

Update: Greg at Begging to Differ was listening closely and has audio evidence that Kerry was talking about hair pollution, not air pollution. Writes Greg: “Maybe John Edwards should lay off the Aqua Net.” Tee-hee!

Update II: More on the asthma/air pollution lie from Mike Fumento here. And for more on the real culprit that explains asthma increases, see the EPA website and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences fact sheet, which reports:

Recent studies have found a strong association between the presence of cockroaches and increases in the severity of asthma symptoms in individuals who are sensitive to cockroach allergens.

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