Health warning issued for three western states as life-threatening toxins flood cities

Officials have sounded the alarm, urging over half a million Americans to keep their windows locked and doors closed amid a wave of toxic air pollutants.

The western states of Arizona, California, and Oregon are currently blanketed by highly polluted air, with some pockets reporting high levels of a noxious toxin known as fine particulate matter, or PM2.5.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an alarming rise in pollutants in major cities across the respective states, with the worst pockets detected in Gilbert and Chandler, Arizona, which have a combined population of over 580,000…