December 2014

This week, ATS President Tom Ferkol, M.D. testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works; Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee regarding EPA's proposal to establish a more protective National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. Earlier this year, EPA issued a proposal to lower the current standard of 75 ppb/8-hour standard to a more protective standard in the range of 65-70 ppb/8-hours. The ATS has publicly recommended EPA finalize a more protective standard of 60 ppb.

In his testimony, Dr. Ferkol noted that the scientific evidence supporting a standard of 60 ppb/8-hours is strong. "Since 2006, when the Bush Administration EPA looked at the ozone standard, the American Thoracic Society recommended a more protective standard of 60 ppb. We were confident of our recommendation then. We are more confident of our recommendation today. The more research scientists do on the health effects of air pollution, the more confident the medical community is about air pollution's adverse effect on public health. EPA is not basing their proposed protective ozone standard on one study, or ten studies. The proposed rule is based on literally hundreds of studies that demonstrate the current standard is not protective. These studies include multiple scientific methods, including animal studies, mechanistic studies, human exposure studies, epidemiology studies, natural experiments and meta analysis."