The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has criticized a
review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for
Particulate Matter. Conducted by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the study was done as part of a required
review of the coarse particulate matter standards. In effect,
EPA is looking at the impact of duct. According to a statement
from NCBA, coarse particulate matter is "nothing more than dust
kicked up by cars and trucks traveling on dirt roads, a tractor
tilling a field or cattle moving around on dirt," says Tamara
Theis, NCBA's chief environmental council. "Studies do not show
that rural dust is a health problem." EPA, back in 2006, set a
coarse particulate matter standard of 150 micrograms per cubic
meter of air, and when reviewing the standard in 2008,
determined that the evidence on health effects from this level
of dust was inconclusive. However, in July 2009, EPA
reinterpreted what NCBA calls "the inconclusive evidence" and
made use of what the group calls a flawed study to sug