WASHINGTON - Ohio had some of the worst air pollution in the nation last year, putting state residents at greater risk for respiratory ailments such as asthma, according to a report released Thursday.

SMOG'S HAZARDS

Among the continuing health problems smog can cause:     High levels of ozone trigger asthma attacks among children. School absenteeism increases on high smog days.     People with respiratory disease such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema go to the emergency room more on high smog days.     A Harvard School of Public Health study documented an increase in deaths from strokes on severe smog days     Even for healthy adults, breathing ozone at high concentrations can cause coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, headaches, nausea and irritation of eye and throat tissues.     Ozone causes airways to become swollen and inflamed and can cause scarring, decreasing the amount of oxygen delivered to the body with each breath.     Exposure to high ozone levels can increase vulnerability to bacterial infections. Gannett News Service

        Ohio reported 34 days on which ozone levels exceeded national safety standards for at least eight hours in 2001, the report said. Ohio ranked fifth in the nation behind California with 130 days, Texas with 72, Pennsylvania with 39 and New Jersey with 35, said a study from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

        Kentucky reported 23 days of high ozone levels in 2001, ranking 13th in the nation for poor air quality, the report said.

        With 22 days, Indiana tied for 14th place with South Carolina and Virginia.

        Hot weather and lack of rain this year are expected to compound the problem for most of the nation.

        “The problem is that ozone emissions are not going down, which makes us vulnerable to the weather,” said Rebecca Stanfield, who wrote the report. “We can't control the temperature or the rain, but we do have the ability to control pollution.”

        Ozone is an odorless, colorless gas that contributes to smog. Ozone is created when nitrogen oxide emissions from cars, trucks and power plants react in sunlight with chemicals called volatile organic compounds that evaporate easily. Add small airborne particles from smoke, dust and vehicle tailpipes and smog is the result.

        Ozone has been linked to increased reports of asthma, coughing, wheezing and throat and eye irritation problems, said Stuart Greenberg, spokesman for Environmental Health Watch in Cleveland. Although the respiratory illness is often hereditary, smog worsens asthma attacks and can trigger the disorder in healthy people.

        Ohio Department of Health officials in Columbus could not say whether air pollution has increased reports of asthma because the state does not collect data on the ailment.

        Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials concede Ohio's air can be hazy because the state has many manufacturers and large urban centers.

        Ohio counties that reported the worst air quality in 2001 were Clinton County, northeast of Cincinnati, and Mahoning County, where Youngstown is located, the report said.

        “In general, Ohio is a fairly industrial state,” said Heidi Griesmer, spokeswoman for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in Columbus.

        Despite the unfavorable report, the state has taken steps to reduce pollution, Ms. Griesmer said. Ohio put new guidelines in place to reduce escaping vapors at gas stations and requires automobiles to undergo regular emissions tests in the Cincinnati, Akron, Cleveland and Dayton metropolitan areas.

        As a result, ozone levels in Ohio dropped 13 percent in the past 20 years, Ms. Griesmer said.

        Cincinnati-based Cinergy and federal officials in December 2000 announced a tentative agreement calling for the utility to spend $1.4 billion to shut down or repower nine coal-fired boilers and install pollution controls at other plants.

        Officials at Ohio Citizen Action, a grass-roots environmental and public health group in Cleveland, complained that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has been lax in enforcing clean air rules, and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, has supported legislation to weaken pollution controls.

        The group asked the U.S. Environmental Agency to investigate the state agency's record and a report is due by year's end, said spokeswoman Jennifer O'Donnell of Ohio Citizen Action.

        U.S. PIRG urged federal and state environmental agencies not to weaken air pollution laws and instead adopt a new plan to reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury emissions from power plants and promote cleaner power sources such as fuel cells.

        Reporter Erin Kelly of Gannett News Service contributed.

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