Students, Teachers, Advocates and Lawmakers to Unveil New Anti-Asthma Laws as Disease Rates Rise

School buses will not be allowed to idle on school grounds and specialized asthma medication equipment will be installed in schools thanks to two new laws aimed at statewide epidemic

ALBANY, NY (09/25/2007)(readMedia)-- WHAT: With over three million children across New York attending over 6,500 schools being exposed to dangerous vehicle exhaust and tens of thousands suffering from asthma, Governor Eliot Spitzer has signed into law two significant pieces of legislation to help combat New York’s nation topping asthma rates. The legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera and Senators Andrew Lanza and Martin Golden will help combat rising levels of pediatric asthma by preventing the idling of school vehicles on school grounds (A.8486B/S.5973B) and by requiring schools with nurses to maintain an asthma nebulizer on site for chronic asthmatic children.

WHO: Teachers, school administrators, students, parents, Rebecca Kalin of Asthma Free School Zone, Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera, Councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito, Dr. George D. Thurston, Deputy Director of the New York University-Environmental Protection Agency Particulate Matter Research Center, Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine, School of Medicine

WHY: Tens of thousands of school-age children are suffering from asthma and continue to be exposed to harmful diesel exhausts while schools are ill-equipped to handle their asthma attacks. With the highest rates of asthma in the entire nation, New York has completely failed to address this health problem. This lack of action has reached a boiling point in many communities where students are missing hundreds of hours of school due to respiratory illnesses caused by vehicle exhaust and lack of inexpensive medical equipment in schools. As a result, 17% of school-aged children in the South Bronx suffer from asthma. In some Brooklyn schools as many as 25% of entire student population suffer from asthma. Furthermore, in New York State in 2002, one in 13 school children suffered from asthma and according to the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, as many as 50,000 New York City students have asthma.

WHERE: Playground at East 104th Street and Madison Avenue, Manhattan

WHEN: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 1:30PM

NOTE: PHOTO OPPORTUNITY, display of equipment that will be required in every school to treat children with chronic asthma will be displayed as well as signage that will appear statewide on school grounds indicating “No-Idling Zones”