<
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/07/1229348646/epa-tightens-rules-on-some-air-pollution-for-the-first-time-in-over-a-decade>
'When Cynthia Pinto-Cabrera developed asthma at 12, it didn't seem that unusual
to her. Lots of her classmates in California's San Joaquin Valley carried
inhalers to school. Her little brother needed a nebulizer every morning just to
start his day breathing right.
But when she left the valley for college in Santa Barbara, Pinto-Cabrera
encountered a world with far less air pollution than she had lived with. She
found it shocking that other parts of the country simply lived with cleaner
air— and their health benefited.
"A lot of people here in the valley don't really know asthma is not the
normal," she says. "We've really normalized chronic illnesses."
Pinto-Cabrera is one of many people nationwide celebrating an announcement
Wednesday from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which unveiled new,
stricter limits for one of the deadliest types of air pollution: tiny particles
about 30 times smaller than a human hair. These particles are called PM2.5
(shorthand for particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) and
are commonly referred to as soot.
The agency lowered the allowable limit for annual PM2.5 levels from 12
micrograms per cubic meter to 9. That's a "significant reduction," says Regan
Patterson, an air pollution expert at the University of California, Los
Angeles.
"The science is clear," says EPA Administrator Michal Regan. "Soot pollution is
one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution and is linked to a range of
serious and potentially deadly illnesses, including asthma and heart attacks."
The new standard represents the first tightening of the rules since 2012, but
states will have several years to reach the new limits.
The EPA left the daily limits on PM2.5 pollution unchanged, at 35 micrograms
per cubic meter, saying the same efforts that will reduce pollution under the
revised annual standard will drive down short-term pollution exposures as well.
Decades of research have demonstrated that tiny particles are dangerous to
people's health at nearly any concentration. The sources vary: fossil fuel
combustion, agriculture, and industrial processes all add to the load, as does
wildfire smoke and dust.
In aggregate, the tiny particles drive millions of premature deaths worldwide
each year. The EPA estimates that the new, tighter standards will prevent about
4,500 premature deaths a year by 2032 in the U.S. and prevent about 800,000
asthma-related emergency visits. It estimates the lower pollution exposures
could reduce healthcare costs by about $46 billion by that time.'
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-tolerance-poland-sanitation-indonesia-restoration-dominican-republic/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
