Unhealthy air days may be happening more often than we know

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

Get ready for some hot days - and potentially dangerous ones.

Temperatures could soar into the 90s by Thursday, creating a perfect foundation for unhealthy air alerts across New England.

A smoggy day

Now, the American Lung Association of New England notes that we probably have more to worry about than the 18 New England unhealthy air alerts issued so far this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The lung association conducted an analysis that noted if EPA this year had adopted the recommendations of an air quality expert panel - and dozens of health and environmental groups - there would have been at least 41 unhealthy days this year.

"This is a significant public health problem,'' said Margaret R. LaCroix, a vice president for marketing and communications at the Association in an email today. "The public should know that when the EPA tells us that the air quality is moderate, it really is unhealthy."

Not great news for those with respiratory troubles or those that spend lots of time outside, such as young children.

I wrote a related story on Saturday noting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted a more protective threshold to warn people not to go outside when pollution from cars, factories and lawn mowers reacted with sunlight to create smog, or ground-level ozone - yet it wasn't as strict as what health professionals recommended. You can find it here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/12/ne_faces_increase_in_smog_warnings/

The Association has created a website called ownyourair.org that give tips on what to do on bad air days, as well as some longterm strategies.