Full Text of HR0840 93rd General Assembly
HR0840 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR0840 |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Diesel emissions have the potential to cause | 3 |
| adverse health effects such as asthma, chronic obstructive | 4 |
| pulmonary disease (COPD), allergies, and lung cancer; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, There are few other sources of air pollution in | 6 |
| our environment that are so widespread and toxic as diesel | 7 |
| emissions; and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, Emissions from diesel vehicles can cause serious | 9 |
| air pollution; and
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| WHEREAS, The United States Environmental Protection | 11 |
| Agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and the | 12 |
| American Lung Association have shown that exposure to diesel | 13 |
| exhaust increases the frequency of asthma attacks and other | 14 |
| respiratory illness; and
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| WHEREAS, The U.S. EPA has found diesel exhaust to be a | 16 |
| likely carcinogen; and | 17 |
| WHEREAS, A national estimate of cancer risk from diesel | 18 |
| exhaust found that diesel exhaust is the number one air toxics | 19 |
| cancer risk in the U.S.; and
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| WHEREAS, The air inside a diesel-fueled school bus can be | 21 |
| up to 15 times more polluted than the air outside the bus; and
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| WHEREAS, The vast majority, more than eighty percent, of | 23 |
| school buses in Illinois are diesel-fueled; and | 24 |
| WHEREAS, Children spend, on average, an hour and half on | 25 |
| school buses each day; and | 26 |
| WHEREAS, Asthma is the most common chronic illness in |
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HR0840 |
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LRB093 21921 KEF 50077 r |
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| children and the leading cause of school absences; and | 2 |
| WHEREAS, Asthma has reached epidemic proportions in the | 3 |
| United States, affecting an estimated 20 million people; and
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| WHEREAS, Nearly 300,000 children in the State of Illinois | 5 |
| suffer from asthma; and
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| WHEREAS, Asthma is the leading cause of childhood | 7 |
| hospitalizations in the State of Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, Nearly 300 Illinois citizens died from asthma | 9 |
| related deaths in 2003; and | 10 |
| WHEREAS, This body recognizes that the health and wellbeing | 11 |
| of each and every citizen of this State is important;
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| therefore, be it | 13 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 14 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 15 |
| proclaim May 4th, 2004, as Illinois Clean Air and Asthma | 16 |
| Awareness Day;
and be it further | 17 |
| RESOLVED, That on Illinois Clean Air and Asthma Awareness | 18 |
| Day, awareness will be made that school bus idling is a major | 19 |
| cause of diesel exhaust pollution in school zones;
and be it | 20 |
| further | 21 |
| RESOLVED, That efforts should be made to reduce school bus | 22 |
| idling on this day and every day to increase the health and | 23 |
| well-being of all Illinois citizens, especially children.
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