EPA’s Dangerous Regulatory Pollution

If you’re wondering whether to trust the Environmental Protection
Agency on mercury, ozone, climate change or other regulatory actions,
you need look no further than how it has handled particulates.
EPA whitewashed the
toxic flash flood
it caused in Colorado. But it says particulate matter smaller than 10
microns (PM10) is risky and worries incessantly about 2.5-micron
particles. (A human hair is 50-70 microns; dust, pollen and mold are
around 10; combustion exhaust particles are 2.5 microns or smaller.)
The
tinier specks, EPA asserts, “can get deep into your lungs, and some may
even get into your bloodstream.” Eliminating all such particles in our
air is absolutely essential to human health, longevity and well-being,
the agency insists. There is no threshold below which there is no risk,
its advisors say.
Studies demonstrate “an association” between
“premature mortality and fine particle pollution at the lowest levels
measured,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told Congress. They have not
found a level “at which premature mortality effects do not occur.”
Reducing emissions and exposure always yields health benefits.
Broad
population-based epidemiological evidence “links” short term PM2.5
exposures (hours or days) to cardiovascular and respiratory mortality,
an EPA report claims. Long-term exposure (years or decades) has been
“linked” to respiratory disease and cardiovascular and lung cancer
mortality.