Adams co-authors paper that calls for stricter air-quality standards

EPP Department Head Peter Adams is one of the co-authors on a paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine that argues against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current stance on air pollution standards for fine particulate matter. The paper, written jointly by members of the disbanded EPA scientific review panel for these standards, argues that by circumventing the regulation that requires pollution standards to be overseen by a scientific review panel, the EPA is opening the public up to unnecessary risk of death from air pollution.

“Political appointees at the EPA are saying that the United States does not need tighter air pollution standards for fine particulate matter, which is known to cause tens of thousands of premature deaths each year,” says Adams. “The law requires a scientific review to determine if the standards need to be tighter, but EPA chose to short-circuit that process by disbanding the normal review panel. Members of the disbanded panel chose to do the review anyway, and this paper declares publicly our conclusion that the current standards are insufficient to protect public health.”

To read the full paper, go here.