2005-06-28
Particle Pressure
John L. Kirkwood is president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association. Frank O'Donnell is president of Clean Air Watch, a 501 (c) 3 nonpartisan, nonprofit organization aimed at educating the public about clean air and the need for an effective Clean Air Act.
In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set new limits on the amount of microscopic particles permitted in the air.
The agency acted after determining that these tiny particles—each only about one-thirtieth the diameter of a single human hair—were causing tens of thousands of premature deaths each year, in addition to triggering asthma attacks and other health problems.
Industries ferociously opposed the new requirements, asserting they were based on “junk science.” They demanded more studies of the issue.
Since then, scientists have completed more than 2,000 additional peer-reviewed studies, and have reached a consensus: The 1997 standards need to be made even stronger to protect people’s health. Indeed, EPA’s own staff scientists have concluded that many thousands of Americans are dying prematurely by breathing air permitted under the existing standards.
The American Lung Association believes the new standards should be significantly strengthened to provide additional health protections for tens of millions of Americans.
The new science of fine particle pollution will pose an interesting dilemma for EPA Administrator Steve Johnson, the first career scientist ever to head the agency. Johnson is under a court agreement to issue a formal proposal later this year on whether the existing standards should be revised. Science says yes. But big polluters likely will say no.
Later this week, EPA’s scientists will begin to chart the course of Johnson’s decision as they release a final assessment of the science and the need for stricter standards to protect people’s health.
The implications are enormous—both for public health and for the industries that create fine particle pollution, including coal, electric power, automobile and diesel engine companies. Tougher standards would necessitate more aggressive cleanup efforts than currently contemplated.
But there is little doubt scientifically that additional cleanup is warranted. Fine particle pollution is arguably the most serious air pollution problem in the nation. A mixture of microscopic solids and liquid droplets suspended in air, fine particles can be emitted directly from industries or formed in the atmosphere from gases spewed by cars, trucks and smokestacks.
Recent science confirms that these tiny particles can aggravate heart and lung diseases and have been associated with very serious health problems including heart attacks, chronic bronchitis and asthma attacks.
For example, a Harvard study showed that fine-particle pollution was causing heart attacks among people living in Boston. Another study showed people in Phoenix were dying from fine-particle pollution—even though the city meets current standards. The same pattern was discovered among people living in Santa Clara County, Calif.
After reviewing these and other studies, 100 leading air pollution scientists—a veritable who’s who of air pollution researchers—recently wrote a letter citing “extensive evidence that serious health effects are occurring” at levels permitted by the 1997 standards. The letter demonstrated “There is a broad scientific consensus among independent researchers that the air quality standards for fine particles need to be strengthened to better protect public health,” noted one of its signers, George D. Thurston of New York University’s School of Medicine.
Earlier this month, a panel of independent scientists who review EPA’s actions also endorsed more protective standards. This panel concluded that the current standards “should be modified to provide increased public health protection.” They recommended, for example, that the current daily permissible limit for fine particle pollution be cut by about half and said EPA should also lower the permissible annual limit.
If history is any guide, polluting industries will mobilize in the coming months to derail or blunt any effort by EPA to set tougher standards.
EPA should heed science, not politics, as it reviews the standards for fine particle pollution. The lives of thousands of Americans are literally hanging in the balance.
© 2005 TomPaine
