About 30 people interested in learning about and defending the federal Clean Air Act turned out Thursday for a community meeting in West Akron. The session at the Schumacher Community Learning Center was partly a tutorial on clean air and pollution and partly the kick-off of a local initiative to protect the 41-year-old federal act from attacks in Congress.The goal of the Akron meeting was to “promote healthy families and healthy communities,” said DeAndre Nixon of iN Education Inc.“The Clean Air Act has been very helpful,” said Sam Rubens of the Summit County Health District. Pollution has decreased and public health has improved due to that law, he said. “We don’t want to see negative health impacts,” he said of possible rollbacks in federal anti-pollution limits.Clean air is “an environmental and public health concern,” said Joan Picone of the National Wildlife Federation. “We want families’ and children’s health to be protected. Let the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency do its job and let it upgrade rules,” she said.The law has had major impacts in improving and protecting public health across America, she said. Clean air is an important public health issue, but it’s difficult to get the public involved and engaged, she said. Asthma is the No. 1 air pollution threat affecting 7.1 million children in the United States, said Dr. Debbie Toder of Akron Children’s Hospital. It is a growing problem that is more common and more severe in children, women, low-income people, inner-city residents, African-Americans and Puerto Ricans, she said.Picone urged those at the meeting to join the Clean Air Promise, a national effort to thwart possible Republican threats to clean-air protections. She said information is available at www.cleanairpromise.org/states/ohio. For details on the local campaign, contact Picone at 330-280-1590.Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.