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Out of Breath - High Country News
Out of Breath
A dry cough rattles the throat of 63-year-old John Mionczynski, who is sun-tanned, fit and active and should be one of the healthiest people in Wyoming. He's spent his life goat packing through the Wind River Mountains and living off wild plants in the Red Desert.
Last winter he woke up at 2 a.m. unable to breathe and called his doctor. Mionczynski, who has never smoked, was surprised to learn that he had whooping cough, which had developed into emphysema. The day I talked to him, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's monitor at nearby South Pass showed ozone -- a colorless, odorless gas that is an ingredient in smog -- higher than levels scientists say are safe to protect human health.
To read the entire story: http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/out-of-breath
