The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) has agreed that the the current air quality standard for ozone cannot be considered protective of public health and that EPA must lower the standard considerably to reflect studies show effects at and below the level of the current standard. (more…)

WASHINGTON - July 19 - With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) soon to make a critical decision about deadly particle soot pollution, medical experts and air pollution research specialists today called on EPA and a Senate committee to ignore what they called “bad science.”
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Scientific studies link concentrations of airborne coarse particulate matter (PM) with hospitalizations and deaths due to heart and lung disease. Coarse PM comprises particles between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter—less than 1/7 the diameter of a human hair. Air pollution from coarse PM is currently regulated under EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM10, which limits airborne concentrations of particles 10 microns in diameter and smaller.
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Particulate air pollution is a national public health problem and EPA’s proposed health standards are insufficient according to a letter from American Medical Association CEO Dr. Michael D. Maves to the U.S. EPA, dated April 17, 2006.
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More than 160 national, state, and local environmental, public interest, environmental justice, conservation, and religious groups sent a letter to EPA Administrator Steve Johnson on April 17, 2006 in support of strengthened air quality standards for particulate matter.
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Statement by John L. Kirkwood, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Lung Association

Proposed Standards Fail To Protect Public Health; Must Be Made Stronger
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Joint comments filed by the American Lung Association and a coalition of environmental groups lay out the legal and technical arguments why EPA’s proposed revisions to the particulate matter (PM) air quality standards are not sufficient to protect public health and the environment as required by the Clean Air Act.  (more…)

Advocates in support of stricter air quality standards for particulate matter outnumbered industry speakers by 8:1 at three public hearings convened by EPA on March 8, 2006.
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