Critics Charge ALA's Most Polluted Cities Data Is Dirty

"The public's interest is in an accurate portrayal of risk. This is the only way to make informed choices on air pollution reductions versus other public and private priorities. With the health benefits exaggerated and the costs safely hidden from view, the result has been unnecessarily stringent standards and overinvestment in pollution control... State of the Air 2004 continues ALA's five-year tradition of inflating air pollution levels and health risks in a so-far successful effort to maintain an unwarranted climate of public fear. ALA and other activist groups' tried-and-true strategy stands on three pillars: (1) exaggerate the frequency and extent of high air pollution, (2) take modest, rare, or nonexistent health risks and turn them into serious and pervasive ones, and (3) ignore positive trends and invent negative ones."

Thanks to PreservingtheAmericanDream Listserv