A recent study found that a 3ppb increase in O3 ambient concentration was associated with an increased progression of 0.18 percentage points in percent emphysema and that such increase was equal to smoking 20 cigarettes per day for 29 years. A simple estimation of population attributable fraction shows that COPD diagnoses due to smoking are actually 30 times more than those attributed to a 3 ppb increment in O3 concentration. Labelling ozone pollution as the new smoking may distort perception of the risks and hinder proper response to real life threatening risk such as smoking.