The Japanese Expert Committee (23)
affirmed the possibility that air pollution in
Japan is affecting the natural history of
COPD. In its opinion, the levels of air
pollution in Japan are not high enough to
clearly demonstrate a cause-effect relationship
between air pollution and COPD, but
they also are not low enough to rule out a
causal relationship. The committee added
that the influence of automobile exhaust
on residents living along roadsides requires
special consideration.