If she grew up in LA in the 60s 70s she was definitely at risk.
I remember the air would burn our lungs as kids playing in the pool and yard in the summer. Everyone I knew reported the same thing.
The air is much better there now; one of the few environmental efforts that really made a difference.
Lots of Valley Fever in California.
Actually, there's been a lot of improvement in the environment since we were kids. It's not usually recognized since the sky is falling, the water is filled with toxins, we're all gonna die (!), and it's the fault of those damn Republicans (you know, the same ones who established the EPA) is the message the Ministry of Truth wants people to hear.
On the other hand, in those wonderful socialist utopias: there are places in Europe where you do take your life in your hands drinking tap water (we were warned not to when I lived in Brussels - the water supply had dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals) and Chinese cities are cesspools of pollution.
It's similar to complaints about racism. If you listen to the left and the press (but I repeat myself) racism is rampant and is a Republican disease. No matter that lynchings, night riders, segregated everything, and other features of the Democratic Party / KKK (damn, I repeated myself again) run south are history.