The researchers Katherine Ensor and Loren Raun cross referenced the time and place of the cases against air pollutant levels recorded by the extensive network of air monitors throughout the Houston area.

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The group expects that by 2015, it will have lost half of the federal funding it had in 2010, in part because of widespread spending cuts known as the sequester, said Executive Director Raun Rasmussen.

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Raun and Ensor conclude that federal air quality standards are adequate where ozone levels are concerned (at 75 parts per billion), but that lives would be saved if particulate matter standards were tightened below the current level of 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

FORBES: Researchers Prove Air Pollution Causes Heart Attacks