Your Lungs Are Under Threat: Why 2026 Is the Year to Speak Up for Respiratory Health

Lung health isn't just a personal health issue—it's becoming a political one, and the stakes have never been higher. With 35 million Americans living with chronic lung conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchiectasis, recent rollbacks of clean air protections and cuts to respiratory research funding are putting lives at risk. But here's the good news: you don't need to be a doctor or policy expert to make a real difference in your community's respiratory health.

What's Threatening Lung Health Right Now?

The progress America has made on air quality over the past 50 years is remarkable. Since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, automakers and major polluting industries have been required to reduce harmful emissions, leading to fewer asthma attacks and premature deaths from air pollution. But that progress is now at risk. "The nation has made huge progress in cleaning up air pollution, but recent and proposed rollbacks put that is at risk," explains Laura Kate Bender, vice president for nationwide advocacy and public policy at the American Lung Association.

The threats to lung health are multifaceted and urgent:

• Air Quality Rollbacks: Repeated attempts to reverse clean air initiatives are undermining decades of progress in reducing harmful emissions and protecting vulnerable populations.
• Research Funding Cuts: Federal research funding cuts are threatening to halt life-saving clinical trials and the development of new treatments for various lung diseases, with one November 2025 report finding that National Institutes of Health funding cuts affected more than 74,000 people enrolled in clinical trials.
• Oxygen Access Restrictions: If Congress doesn't pass the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform Act (SOAR Act), Medicare won't be required to increase access to correct oxygen levels and appropriate equipment, leaving oxygen-dependent people without private insurance tethered to ungainly machines that significantly limit their quality of life.
• Vaping and Cannabis Use: The dramatic rise in nicotine and cannabis vaping—both linked to airway inflammation—lacks sufficient government support for public health awareness campaigns addressing the damage being done to lungs.

Why Does This Matter to Real People?

For those living with lung disease, these policy changes aren't abstract concerns—they're daily realities. Take Niki Plom, 60, of Vero Beach, Florida, who has autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP), a rare autoimmune condition that causes a buildup of fatty, protein-rich material in the lung's air sacs, making breathing an all-out challenge. "On bad air days, I stay indoors," Plom says. "It's especially bad on hot summer days, which has kept me from traveling to visit family".

The burden of poor air quality isn't distributed equally. Chris Chavez, deputy policy director at the Coalition for Clean Air in Los Angeles, grew up near Southern California's I-710 freeway corridor—often called "Asthma Alley"—where heavy-duty diesel truck traffic is a daily reality. Diagnosed with asthma as a young child, he remembers waking up some mornings struggling to breathe. "The sad reality is, that's a common experience for children in this area," Chavez explains. This area is predominantly low-income and populated largely with people of color, making it an environmental justice issue.

How Can You Become a Lung Health Advocate?

The American Lung Association makes it easy for everyone to get involved, even if you don't have a medical background or policy expertise. The key is understanding that some forms of advocacy carry more weight than others. While drafting an email helps, making a phone call can be even more impactful because lawmakers' offices view a phone call as taking more effort, signaling that an issue truly matters to a constituent.

Here are concrete ways you can advocate for better lung health in your community:

• Contact Your Representatives: Make phone calls to your Congress members about restoring research funding for lung disease treatment, pushing for the SOAR Act to improve oxygen access, and supporting clean air protections. Attend town hall meetings where lawmakers are required to listen to constituents.
• Support Research Funding: Patient groups and medical societies often organize sign-on letters and awareness campaigns when federal research budgets are proposed and cut. Add your name, share your personal connection to lung health, or contact your representatives to clearly state how important it is for funding to be sustained.
• Engage in Policy Review Periods: Submit feedback and comments during Medicare or insurer policy review periods if access to supplemental oxygen and other essential breathing aids is a concern for you. Follow your local air pollution control agency or state environmental department through the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA), which represents government agencies responsible for implementing air quality protections across the country.
• Educate the Next Generation: Volunteer with school and community education programs such as the youth vaping prevention program CATCH My Breath, where you can share your own personal connection to vaping and lung health. You can also make a donation so their work teaching teens about the dangers of vaping can continue.

Education is the cornerstone to advocacy—not just for yourself but for the next generation. "While the country's air has gotten cleaner, too many people are still breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution," Bender acknowledges, due in part to an unequal emphasis on air quality in different parts of the country. "If you live near a power plant, refinery, rail yard, or a warehouse, you might be experiencing higher levels of pollution because those polluting sources are right in your backyard. Or you might be in a community that's seeing increasing smoke from wildfires."

The future of America's lung health is concerning, and for those living with lung disease, the clock is ticking. But you have the power to make a difference. Whether you're calling a lawmaker, attending a public meeting, or volunteering with a youth education program, your voice matters. Lung disease can take many forms, and advocating for those affected—and for the policies that protect all of us—is something everyone can do.