Airborne Particulate Matter and Environmental Ozone. C. M. Johnson and E. E. Adams, Health and Environmental Sciences Group, Ltd., 1711 N Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036
The premise that further lowering of the particulate matter (PM) and ozone standards as proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will accrue a greater protection of public health is not only inconsistent with scientific and medical data, but runs contrary to the tenets of public health protection. While the rationale for the new standard has been put forth by the EPA as enhancement of public health, in reality this rationale is disingenuous. Quite to the contrary, it is likely that a detriment to public health will follow from the misdirecting of resources that could be applied to public health protection and the misinforming of the public about the causes of such problems as asthma attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The appropriate regulatory decision tree for protecting the public from the adverse effects of exposure to high levels of PM and ozone involves the standard public health paradigm. While the EPA standard setting procedures lay the groundwork for primary prevention or minimization of exposure, public health protection can only be accomplished with complementary, disease based screening and corrective intervention—in other words, secondary and tertiary prevention. The implementation of these critical protection steps goes beyond the abilities of the EPA, and must include the professional public health and medical communities. With this background work in hand, and documented in a scientifically sound support document, a public forum can be sought whereby this approach to public health protection can be brought forth as the appropriate remedy for the problems that have been highlighted by the EPA regarding PM and ozone.