WSJ Reports Debate Over Microscopic Particle Pollution Study

News brief

April 8, 1997 -- According to an article written by staff reporter Laura Johannes in the April 7 issue of the Wall Street Journal (page B1), a 1993 Harvard University study citing the dangers of inhaling microscopic particles in the atmosphere has sparked a two-tiered debate: (1) one between industry and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on whether rules to reduce the particle pollution should be adopted at annual costs of $6 billion (EPA estimate) to $23 billion (industry estimate); and (2) another between the researchers and other scientists, including some employed by industry and some in the EPA, on whether data from the study should be released for independent analyses.

The study, which was largely financed by the federal government and covered 8,000 people in six cities over a period of 25 years, concluded that "tiny particles of soot, chemicals and metal were responsible for a 26% higher death rate in the most polluted city, the steel town of Steubenville, Ohio, than in the least polluted city, Portage, Wisconsin."

EPA will decide on July 19 whether to adopt the proposed rules for curbing pollution from particles smaller than 0.003 millimeter that are produced by burning fuels. EPA estimates that the new restrictions would save 15,000 lives per year.

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