Fightiong Air Pollution

In the United States, people have been fighting air pollution for years and their efforts are working.Industries must now control emissions from factories. New technology both in pollution prevention, emission reductions, and improved manufacturing methods cut down emissions and removes pollutants from emissions.

Cars now come equipped with something called a "catalytic converter" for the engine system. The converter changes the harmful hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide that a car produces when it burns fuel into harmless carbon dioxide and water. Since a car with a converter uses unleaded gas converters also reduce the amount of lead in the air.

Some states and communities require emission control systems in cars to be inspected every year to make sure they are working properly. This discourages drivers from removing catalytic converters from their cars, or from pumping leaded gas into a car that should only use unleaded. In most states it is against the law to switch from unleaded to leaded fuel, or to tamper with catalytic converters.

Thanks to these different kinds of emission controls, the air in the United States is better than it used to be. Amounts of most major air pollutants have gone down. For example, between 1975 and 1984 amounts of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the air dropped an average of more than 30 percent. The amount of lead dropped 70 percent. Today you can go outside to "get a breath of fresh air" in more and more places in the U. S.