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TO SUMMER hikers and tourists it may look pretty. But America’s Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, shrouded in a hazy cloak of ozone and sulphur dioxide,
may be a veritable hell for its rich spectrum of plant life—as well as for
visitors who suffer from asthma.

Ironically, it is the notoriously high pollution levels in this swathe of
land straddling Tennessee and North Carolina that create the beautiful
pastel-coloured sunsets that draw in the sightseers.

This month there will be a few extra visitors to the park, but they won’t be
there for the view. Scientists intend to conduct…

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