CLEAN CARS FOR CAROLINA—NCPIRG member and Greensboro physician Dr. Bert Fields explains to the media the need for clean cars to reduce health-threatening air pollution.

The NCPIRG-backed "Clean Cars" bill, which would help ease air pollution, has gained 11 state senate sponsors and 23 state representative sponsors.

In some areas, cars and trucks cause as much as 90 percent of smogforming pollution, which triggers thousands of asthma attacks each year.

The Clean Cars plan, which has already been adopted by eight other states, would cut their pollution by requiring all new cars sold to be dramatically cleaner beginning in 2008. State officials expect Clean Cars to help 32 counties meet federal public health standards for air quality, providing needed relief to the one in 10 children across the state suffering from asthma.

If the nine other states that have passed similar clean car standards are any indication, the bill will face increasingly tough opposition from the auto industry as it progresses.

NCPIRG has been working to combat misinformation from automakers and persuade state legislators to support the measure by gaining support from cities that suffer from ozone pollution.