11-year-old surveys Utahns to promote change for air pollution


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SARATOGA SPRINGS — For 11-year-old Ryan Price of Saratoga Springs, Utah's dirty air is a real headache. Prone to migraines, the sixth grader tends to get more headaches and he coughs more during inversions.

"We keep track of when he gets headaches, when he has his cough, and there is definitely a pattern that goes along with the air quality," his mom, Kati Price said.

Ryan wondered if the air had the same effect on other Utahns.

So he looked for answers in a science fair project. He distributed an online survey asking how the smog affected people.

Most of the more than 650 people who've responded thus far report health effects. About 96 percent said the bad air affected their health. More than half said it affects them often.

"They said they had asthma attacks, headaches, trouble breathing, tight chest," Price said.

Just four percent reported no change. Now Price is putting science into action.

He's promoting a "Hump Day, No Car Idle Day," Jan. 29 on Facebook.

"It's where everyone tries to carpool or anything else," he said.

"People see a kid and realize if a kid can stand up and say something then, moms, dads, we all need to," Kati Price said. "It's all our responsibility to standup and say something about it."

Ryan Price plans to give the final results of his survey to the Governor's office.

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Peter Rosen

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