"Growing up in the Valley, I believed that having asthma was like having a common cold. I grew accustomed to seeing inhalers in people's backpacks. They blended in with my classmate's yellow pencils and erasers."
Fresno Bee Editorial by former Valley student (3/16/05). Read the entire editorial here.

Although smog is harmful to everyone's lungs, certain groups are disproportionately at risk. They include: 

Children: Children spend more time outdoors than adults, and are at high risk because their lungs are still developing. Children are also more adversely impacted by air pollution than adults because they breathe more pounds of air per body mass. As a result, children suffer more than adults from asthma and other respiratory ailments. In fact, asthma is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism, accounting for over 10 million missed school days per year.

The elderly: Pollution-induced asthma attacks can be especially dangerous, and even fatal, to the elderly who suffer from more respiratory tract infections and previous lung damage than younger adults.

Adults who are active outdoors: Even the healthiest adults who exercise or work outdoors can experience lung damage when pollution levels are high.

People who suffer from asthma and other respiratory diseases: Around 2.2 million Californians suffer from asthma. Asthmatics are at risk because they have decreased lung function, and pollution can greatly exacerbate the severity of attacks.  

Low-income and people of color: These communities are at a greater risk because they often lack access to culturally- and linguistically- responsive health care, so respiratory ailments, such as asthma, often go undiagnosed and untreated. 29 percent of Latino children lack health insurance and thus lack access to both treatment and preventative care. In California, the asthma death rate for African American children is over four times greater than that of white children.