Taking a breath outside is like taking a puff.<\/p>\n
Spending just three hours breathing the smoke-and-toxin-riddled Big Apple air <\/a>on Thursday <\/a>is equivalent to smoking 2.5 cigarettes, an expert warned. <\/p>\n New Yorkers are breathing \u201cunhealthy\u201d levels of air thanks to the wildfire smoke funneling down from Canada and the Great Lakes \u2014 prompting officials to urge residents to remain indoors.<\/p>\n New Yorkers are breathing \u201cunhealthy\u201d air, according to state safety reports. REUTERS<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s reasonable to say you\u2019re smoking 10 cigarettes today by breathing the air in New York City,<\/a>\u201d Michael Petroni, a pollution expert and former EPA employee, told The Post about spending a full day outside. <\/p>\n The five boroughs have been under an Air Quality Health Advisory since Wednesday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) hovering in the 151-200 range \u2014 well above the 0-50 mark characterized as \u201cgood,\u201d according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. <\/a><\/p>\n That means there are \u201cunhealthy\u201d levels of dust, dirt, soot, smoke and other toxins in the air that New Yorkers would typically only ingest by lighting a few cigarettes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rule of thumb is about 20 AQI points for a whole day equals one cigarette,\u201d explained Petroni, who worked for the EPA\u2019s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. <\/p>\n The haze is pollution from the Canadian wildfires. Getty Images<\/p>\n While it may not sound nefarious, that exposure could be chipping away at New Yorkers\u2019 lifespans.<\/p>\n The AQI measures particulate matter, which includes toxins ranging from heavy metals to aerosol droplets and other carcinogens that are invisible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n