When Breathing Is Hazardous : Health: For the infirm, asthmatics, children, the elderly and people exercising, air pollution poses particular dangers.

Richard Reiner of Ventura doesn’t need a government-issued health advisory to know when air pollution is on the rise.

He has only to step outdoors and try to breathe.

“My lungs just close up on me,” said Reiner, who suffers from advanced emphysema, a chronic lung disease contracted after nearly 30 years of heavy smoking.

“I’m affected almost immediately when air pollution gets into the moderate level,” he said. “They call it moderate or unhealthful, but it’s really all bad for people like me.”

Reiner, who speaks against smoking at area schools on behalf of the American Lung Assn., is one of an estimated 220,000 people in Ventura County whom the association considers sensitive to air pollution.

Smoggy air is believed to be most harmful to the infirm like Reiner, asthmatics, the elderly, children and people engaged in vigorous exercise.

Most adults, particularly those who are ill or exercising, feel the short-term effects of air pollution with shortness of breath, coughing or tightness in their chests, said Dr. George C. Yu, a lung specialist in Oxnard.

But children, he said, seem not to experience pain or discomfort when they are being harmed by air pollution.

“Even if you feel fine and are not having any symptoms, it does not mean that you’re not being harmed,” Yu said. “Air pollution is ubiquitous. We can’t escape it.”

Air pollution can harm the developing lungs of children over time, leaving them more susceptible to lung infection as adults and with diminished lung capacity, Yu said.

Athletes who exercise on smoggy days unwittingly draw pollutants deep into their lungs, increasing their potential for respiratory infections like bronchitis.

The toxins in polluted air irritate the already weakened and inflamed lungs of people suffering from respiratory infections and chronic diseases such as Reiner’s, leaving them panting for air, lung specialists say.

Pollutants can also send otherwise healthy asthmatics into fits of wheezing and coughing that can be dangerous and even fatal.

“We have more than 4,000 deaths a year in this country from asthma, and it’s getting worse all the time,” said Dr. Lewis J. Kanter, a Camarillo allergist.

No statistics were available on the number of deaths attributable to asthma or air pollution in Ventura County, but Kanter said scientists are now studying the effects of air pollution on lungs.

“Air pollution is one of our leading health hazards in Southern California,” he said.

Air pollution in Ventura County is milder by far than the area to the south, where the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange combine to make the Los Angeles basin the smoggiest area in the nation.

But Ventura County fails both federal and state health standards for smog and will likely be rated an area of “severe” air pollution under the new federal Clean Air Act, said William Mount, chief of planning for the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

Based on new research showing that health is affected at lower levels of air pollution than previously believed, the state began this year requiring air pollution districts to warn people the day before air is expected to be unhealthful.

The warnings for sensitive people to stay indoors are dispersed to the media, convalescent hospitals, day-care centers and school districts.

The Oxnard Elementary School District, with a year-round program that runs through the smoggiest summer months, will change to rainy-day schedules during health advisories, said Robert Foster, head of risk management for the district.

On those days, children will stay indoors during recess and junior high school students will exercise inside, Foster said.

Yu said he does not believe that it is unhealthy to stay outdoors when health advisories are issued. But children should be prevented from vigorous play to prevent illness later in life, he said.

“We don’t know if there is a safe level of air pollution, but we do know that lung function decreases over time with exposure to air pollution.”

Reiner, who uses supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day, said he notices the smog most when he travels to Simi Valley, where he visits schools as an example of why young children should not smoke.

“It was only a couple of steps from the car to the school and I could hardly breathe,” he said.

Air pollution exacerbates Reiner’s emphysema, which prevents a free exchange of oxygen in his lungs. He spends most smoggy days in his air-conditioned house or his air-conditioned car, he said.

Jerry Harris, a respiratory therapist and volunteer for the American Lung Assn., said his patients already struggle for breath.

“These people spend several hours on a good day just getting dressed,” he said. “You can’t realize how their disease is exacerbated by poor air quality.”