Traffic moves through haze in Beijing Monday. (Wire Photo)
My Olympic drug bag is bulkier than usual this time. Jammed in among the various antibiotics, painkillers, antacids and sundry unguents are two inhalers and some industrial-strength Visine. When Dr. Kim, my modernly thorough internist, noticed during my annual physical that I had a bit of lingering congestion in my lungs, she promptly wrote out prescriptions for Fluticasone and Albuterol. Fluticasone is a corticosteroid used to treat asthma (which hundreds of Olympic athletes suddenly discover they have when the Games are nigh). Albuterol is a bronchodilator for folks who have trouble breathing.
video Powers on air pollut[...]