The Hazards of Smoking

The Third Stanza of "The Star Spangled Banner" begins

"And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution."

While Francis Scott Key had in mind the pollution of the British troops on American soil during the War of 1812, some kinds of pollution work to defend America.

Specifically, air pollution!  At least it did in the case of Abdullah Ismail.  He is (or rather, he WAS) the Pakistani who inhaled the smoke from the American flag he was burning.  Some of those synthetic fabrics can emit noxious fumes when combusted!

"And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"