DUST from the Sahara desert and salt in ocean spray could breach the tough new standards for particulate pollution now being considered in the US, warn some environmental scientists.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has been forced to consider the new standards after a legal action launched by the American Lung Association (ALA). The association argued that the EPA had failed in its duty to review air quality standards every five years, as it should under the Clean Air Act. The courts decided in favour of the association, and ordered the EPA to publish its proposed changes by the end of November. After a period of public consultation, the new standards will come into force in June 1997.
The most controversial feature of the proposed changes is a new limit on emissions of PM2.5particulate matter that is less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, about a twentieth the diameter of a ...
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