EPA Final Staff Paper Recommends Strengthened Air Quality Standards for Particulates
Statement of Norman Edelman, MD
Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the American Lung Association on the release of the final EPA Staff Paper on the Review of the Air Quality Standards for Particulates
New York, NY, July 1, 2005 – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the final recommendations of its staff scientists on revisions to the federal air quality standards for particulates. This action formally begins the regulatory process to strengthen the standards. The air quality standards define what constitutes healthy air and set the goals for clean up under the Clean Air Act.
The conclusions are striking: EPA staff scientists find that the current standards for fine particles fail to protect public health. They find that particles inflict great harm, from asthma attacks, to changes in lung function, increases in hospital admissions and—most severe of all—premature deaths at levels well below the current standards. The EPA scientists recommend policy options that range from doing very little to setting levels comparable to California’s stringent air quality standards. Additionally, the staff scientists are recommending that a new standard be set for slightly larger but still inhalable particles known as urban coarse particles.
An independent scientific review panel reviewed a draft of these recommendations and concluded that both the annual and daily limits for fine particles need to be lowered substantially, and supported the establishment of a new coarse particle standard.
The next step is up to EPA Administrator Steve Johnson, who must choose one of the recommended options by December 20, 2005. The lives of thousands of Americans hang in the balance as he evaluates the options outlined in the staff paper. Children with asthma, grandparents with COPD and others with lung ailments hope he makes the right decision. The American Lung Association urges him to select the most protective new standard, which will improve and save the most lives.
The EPA staff paper can be found online.
