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Fall foliage in Portland.

(Staff/2009)

Leaf blowers, air quality: In the spring, summer and fall months, almost every day, a different neighbor has people in with those gasoline-powered leaf blowers. They

are disgusting and should be banned. I think the most serious concern might be the stuff they blow into the air. The pollution that rain and dew washes out of the air -- lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, mercury and automotive exhaust soot are all deposited on the ground only to be blown into your lungs. Then there is feces powder from birds, squirels, dogs, cats and mice, as well as mold and spores. Don't forget the Agent Orange stuff that people just have to use -- herbicides, fertilizers, etc. Then there is the noise -- so irritating, especially when you get more than one going simultaneously. Dueling leaf blowers! Whoopee!

Engine-combustion pollution is addressed in the letter from Shirlee Robertson, but health-wise, I suspect that might be the least of the concerns. If we had any sense, we'd outlaw these obnoxious health hazards.

Wayne E. Van Loon

Beaverton